
Class _A k33^ 

Book _ »Y^ -i^ 

Copight N" 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




o 
o 
< 

X 

u 

O 
H 

> 
g 

< 
U 
ID 

Q 
W 

O 

w 
o 
w 
hj 
hJ 
o 
u 



THE LIBRARY 

OF 

HOME ECONOMICS 

A COMPLETE HOME-STUDY COURSE 

ON THE NEW PROFESSION OF HOME-MAKING AND ART OF RIGHT LIVING; 

THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THE MOST RECENT ADVANCES 

IN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES TO HOME AND HEALTH 

PREPARED BY TEACHERS OF 
RECOGNIZED AUTHORITY 

FOR HOME-MAKERS, MOTHERS, TEACHERS, PHYSICIANS, NURSES, DIETITIANS, 

PROFESSIONAL HOUSE MANAGERS, AND ALL INTERESTED 

IN HOME, HEALTH, ECONOMY AND CHILDREN 

TWELVE VOLUMES 

NEARLY THREE THOUSAND PAGES, ONE THOUSAND ILLUSTRATIONS 

TESTED BY USE IN CORRESPONDENCE INSTRUCTION 

REVISED AND SUPPLEMENTED 




CHICAGO 

AMERICAN SCHOOL OF HOME ECONOMICS 

1907 



LIBRARY of CONQRfSS 
OfteOw* Received 

A Oui/yrirm Entry 
OWN A lUtOiNii. 

W »ii« ■■ ii T ' ■ II ■ ^ 



Copyright, 1907 

BY 

Home Economics Association 

Entered at Stationers' Hall, London 
A// Rights Reserved, 



AUTHORS 



ISABEL BEVIER, Ph. M. 

Professor of Household Science, University of Illinois. Author U. S. 
Government Bulletins, "Development of the Home Economics 
Movement in America," etc. 

ALICE PELOUBET NORTON, M. A. 

Assistant Professor of Home Economics, School of Education, Uni- 
versity of Chicago ; Director of the Chautauqua School of Domestic 
Science. 

S. MARIA ELLIOTT 

Instructor in Home Economics, Simmons College; Formerly Instruc- 
tor School of Housekeeping, Boston. 

ANNA BARROWS 

Director Chautauqua School of Cookery; Lecturer Teachers' College, 
Columbia University, and Simmons College ; formerly Editor "Ameri- 
can Kitchen Magazine;" Author " Home Science Cook Book." 

ALFRED CLEVELAND COTTON, A. M., M. D. 

Professor Diseases of Children, Rush Medical College, University of 
Chicago ; Visiting Physician Presbyterian Hospital, Chicago; Author 
of " Diseases of Children." 

BERTHA M. TERRILL, A. B. 

Professor in Home Economics in Hartford School of Pedagogy; 
Author of U. S. Government Bulletins. 

KATE HEINTZ WATSON 

Formerly Instructor in Domestic Economy, Lewis Institute; Lecturer 
University of Chicago. 

MARION FOSTER WASHBURNE 

Editor "The Mothers' Magazine; " Lecturer Chicago Froebel Asso- 
ciation ; Author " Everyday Essays," " Family Secrets," etc. 

MARGARET E. DODD 

Graduate Massachusetts Institute of Technology ; Teacher of Science, 
Woodward Institute. 

AMY ELIZABETH POPE 

With the Panama Canal Commission ; Formerly Instructor in Practical 
and Theoretical Nursing, Training School for Nurses, Presbyterian 
Hospital, New York City. 

MAURICE LE BOSQUET, S. B. 

Director American School of Home Economics ; Member American 
Public Health .Association and American Chemical Society. 



CONTRIBUTORS AND EDITORS 

ELLEN H. RICHARDS 

Author " Cost of Food," " Cost of Living," " Cost of Shelter," " Food 
Materials and Their Adulteration," etc., etc.; Chairman Lake Placid 
Conference on Home Economics. 

MARY HINMAN ABEL 

Author of U. S. Government Bulletins, "Practical Sanitary and Econ- 
omic Cooking," "Safe Food," etc. 

THOMAS D. WOOD, M. D. 

Professor of Physical Education, Columbia University. 

H. M. LUFKIN, M. D. 

Professor of Physical Diagnosis and Clinical Medicine, University of 
Minnesota. 

OTTO FOLIN, Ph. D. 

Special Investigator, McLean Hospital, Waverly, Mass. 

T. MITCHELL PRUDDEN, M. D., LL. D. 

Author "Dust and Its Dangers " "The Story of the Bacteria," "Drink- 
ing Water and Ice Supplies," etc. 

FRANK CHOUTEAU BROWN 

Architect, Boston, Mass.; Author of "The Five Orders of Architec- 
ture," " Letters and Lettering." 

MRS. MELVIL DEWEY 

Secretary Lake Placid Conference on Home Economics. 

HELEN LOUISiE JOHNSON 

Professor of Home Economics, James Millikan University, Decatur. 

FRANK W. ALLIN, M. D. 

Instructor Rush Medical College, University of Chicago. 



MANAGING EDITOR 

MAURICE LE BOSQUET, S. B. 

Director American School of Home Economics. 



BOARD OF TRUSTEES 

OF THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF HOME ECONOMICS 



MRS. ARTHUR COURTENAY NEVILLE 

President of the Board. 

MISS MARIA PARLOA 

Founder of the first Cooking School in Boston; Author of "Home 
Economics," " Young Housekeeper," U. S. Government Bulletins, etc. 

MRS. MARY HINMAN ABEL 

Co-worker in the "New England Kitchen," and the "Rumford Food 
Laboratory;" Author of U. S. Government Bulletins, " Practical 
Sanitary and Economic Cooking," etc. 

MISS ALICE RAVENHILL 

Special Commissioner sent by the British Government to report on the 
Schools of Home Economics in the United States; Fellow of the 
Royal Sanitary Institute, London. 

MRS. ELLEN M. HENROTIN 

Honorary President General Federation of Woman's Clubs. 

MRS. FREDERIC W. SCHOFF 

President National Congress of Mothers. 

MRS. LINDA HULL EARNED 

Past President National Household Economics Association ; Author 
of " Hostess of To-day." 

MRS. WALTER McNAB MILLER 

Chairman of the Pure Food Committee of the General Federation of 
Womans Clubs. 

MRS. J. A. KIMBERLY 

Vice President of National Household Economics Association. 

MRS. JOHN HOODLESS 

Government Superintendent of Domestic Science for the province of 
Ontario ; Founder Ontario Normal School of Domestic Science, now 
the MacDonald Institute. 



Food AND Dietetics 



BY 

ALICE PELOUBET NORTON, M. A. 

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF'hoME ECONOMICS 

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 

DIRECTOR OF THE CHAUTAUQUA SCHOOL OF 

DOMESTIC SCIENCE 




CHICAGO 

AMERICAN SCHOOL OF HOME ECONOMICS 

1907 



1 A" 35S 
. Ml 



COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY 
AMERICAN SCHOOL OF HOUSEHOLD ECONOMICS 

COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY 
HOME ECONOMICS ASSOCIATION 



CONTENTS 



Letter to Students 

The Food Problem 

Cost of Food .... 

Food and the Body 

Food Principles .... 

Carbohydrates .... 

Fats ...... 

Dietary Standards 

Special Food Stuffs 

Meat ...... 

Fish ...... 

Eggs ... 

Milk ...... 

Milk Products .... 

Cereals and their Products 
Bread ..... 

Sugar as Food .... 

Vegetables .... 

Fruits . . . . . 

Nuts . ' . . . 

Tea, Coffee, and Cocoa 

Adulteration of Food 

Special Diet .... 

Bibliography .... 

Notes on the Questions . . 

Protein Metabolism in its Relation to Dietary 

Standards — Otto Folin, Ph.D. 
Program for Supplemental Study 
Index ..... 



V 

3 
7 
30 
41 
44 
48 

SO 
63 
66 
72 

77 
80 
92 
98 
106 

113 
119 

130 
136 

138 

158 

181 

191 

196 
217 
223 



AMERICAN SCHOOL OF HOME ECONOMICS 
CHICAGO 

January 1, 1907. 
Dear M&dar.: 

In the study of the lessons on 
Pood and Dietetics, full use should be made of 
the mapy interesting and valuable publications 
of the United States Department of Agriculture 
These are divided into the popular bulletins 
and pamphlets sent free to all in the United 
States and the more technical bulletins for 
which a nominal price is charged. 

. ^J^e f'J'ee publications are included chief- 
ly in the series of Farmers' Bulletins and in 
EXoracts from Year Books, etc. The "for sale" 
bulletins are issued by the various divisions of 
the Department of Agriculture, those on food 

«nf fi^ n^ ?'^ ^**^i^S.°^ Experiment Stations 
and the Division of Chemistry. 

V 1-^ Any or all of the free publications nav 
be obtained simply by addressing the Department 
sLe«''iSlili^^' Washington, D. g. For ?he "ISr 
sale bulletins com or money order must be senf 

D C ' l^'^rr'"'^?'^^^ °^ Doci;ments^ WaIhin|ton? 
D. C. Postage stamps are not accepted. 

lication^^J^i^^^^^ ?^ **^®® ^'^^ "^o^ sale" pub- 

Lnf of%ricul^urr"V?«rf "^' ^^ ^^^ "^'^^^'^ 
tK« ™ii.itS.r- ^^®*- * fairly complete list of 

raphv burni-"^?? r?°^ *' given in the blblfog- 

published ?h„?^ ^^^w"^ ^""^ constantly being ^ 

are civen'ln ?hi'' ""?u?'■^• *"1«^ «"<! contents 

a«^oi? • ^- ^^Partment of Agriculture bu+ 
summaries are elven r,-p +k« « &* **'**-^''"re, dux 
arts given or the more ImDOrtant of 



thes© in the series of Farmers* Bulletins called 
Experittent Station WorJc, the contents of which 
are given in the list of free publications. 

Of the "for sale" bulletins, two of the 
Office of Experiment Stations at least should be 
sent for — No. 28, American Food Materials, which 
gives the composition of all ordinary foods, 
price 5 cents, and No. 129, Dietary Studies in 
Boston, Springfield, Philadelphia and Chicago, 
price 10 cents,- interesting in corjiection with 
the cost of food. Farmers' Bulletin No. 142, 
The Nutritive and Economic Value of Pood, should 
be read in connection with Part I. 

The School usually requests the Depart- 
nent of Agriculture to send a number of the 
most useful bulletins when active students be- 
gin these lessons. 

The food problem is a large one and al- 
though nutrition by no means depends entirely 
upon the composition of the food eaten, knowledge 
of the character and composition of food is funda< 
mental in the selection 6f a healthful diet. In 
the last analysis, the food problem must always 
be an individual one based on conditions and 
personal peculiarities. 

If difficulties or questions arise in 
connection with this series of lessons, remember 
that you are always privileged to write to the 
School for assistance and advice. 

Sincerely yours. 




Director 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



'T'HE problems of the household are more difficult 
to-day than they have ever been, for each ad- 
vance in science, each modern invention, has brought 
in its train new responsibilities and new duties. In 
every department of the administration of the home 
more knowledge and skill are required than ever be- 
fore. With the increase of conveniences has come 
increased care. Standards of living have changed as 
well, and greater perfection in all household service is 
demanded of the home-maker. 

We still carry on in the household many of the 
numerous trades that were formerly a part of the home 
life, as cooking, cleaning, laundry work, sewing. At 
the same time more close supervision of the life of 
the children, mental, moral and physical, is required; 
more knowledge is needed to control materials if we 
would have that power over our environment which 
makes us the masters and not the slaves of our belong- 
ings ; and the social demands upon time and strength 
can not be ignored. 

If to-day we would lead "the simple life," it must 
be as a result of determined effort, often in the face 
of more or less conscious opposition on the part of 
relatives and friends and of society in general. 



Problems 
of To-Day 



The 

Simple 

Life 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Essentials 

and Non- 

Essentials 



The Food 
Problem 



Yet a simpler life is not to be attained by ignoring 
the results of science, and refusing to apply the knowl- 
edge made available by the investigator; but rather 
by making use of every help that will give knowledge 
of the materials with which we work, that will culti- 
vate the power to distinguish between the essential and 
the non-essential, and that will give control of the 
situation. 

The food problem is perhaps the most difficult of 
all the physical problems that present themselves in 
the household, partly because it is so vital to the wel- 
fare of the family, and partly because it is so inclusive. 
The food question once meant the providing some- 
thing palatable and presumably wholesome at a cost 
within one's means. To-day it implies a knowledge 
not only of the cost and nutritive value of food mate- 
rials, their composition and digestibility ; but of the 
balanced ration, the proportion of different food prin- 
ciples necessary for perfect nourishment, and of the 
way in which this proportion should be varied to suit 
the needs of the child or of the aged, of the laborer, 
or of the student. An understanding of the princi- 
ples involved in the preparation of food is demanded, 
as well as a knowledge of food adulterations that will 
insure pure food materials. 

The importance of the question can scarcely be ex- 
aggerated. Mrs. Ellen H. Richards tells us that "the 
prosperity of a nation depends upon the health and 
morals of its citizens; and the health and morals of 



THE FOOD PROBLEM 



a people depend mainly upon the food they eat, and 
the homes they live in. Strong men and women can 
not be raised on insufficient food ; good tempered, tem- 
perate, highly moral men can not be expected from a 
race which eats badly cooked food, irritating to the di- 
gestive organs and unsatisfying to the appetite. 
Wholesome and palatable food is the first step in good 
morals, and is conducive to ability in business, skill 
in trade, and healthy tone in literature." 

It is quite true that we may put food in a wrong 
position, making it an end rather than a means in 
living. We should eat to live, not live to eat. Yet 
we must keep in mind that right food, clothing and 
shelter are the primary conditions of health, and that 
health is essential to the most complete happiness and 
to the highest usefulness. 

Some one has said that ''well dressed men and 
women, well fed men and women, are still an ethical 
possibility of the future." However this may be in 
regard to dress, certainly an age that has devoted so 
much time and thought to feeding on the stock farm, 
so much attention to the right nutriment for plants, 
and that has solved so many difficult problems in these 
directions, should be able to lay down the principles 
which govern the diet of human beings. 

While the food question then is by no means the 
one thing in housekeeping as it is apparently so often 
considered, it yet is of real and vital importance; and 
the housekeeper who desires to make the most of her 



A Means 
to an End 



Importance 
of the 
Food 
Problem 



6 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

opportunities to contribute to the extent of her ability 
to the welfare of her family, should master the prin- 
ciples of diet so far as they are known, should keep 
an open mind toward new knowledge, and should 
apply with discretion and intelligence the knowledge 
now available in this direction. 



THE COST OF FOOD 

The first practical question that will appeal to the 
housekeeper in regard to food is its cost. Long before 
she asks what proportion of carbohydrate, of fat, 
and of proteid she must provide for her family, the 
question, "What shall I spend for food?" appeals to 
her, and indeed she is often forced by absolute neces- 
sity to decide the question. Later, ''How shall I 
spend?" will be the important problem. 

Two main questions are involved. First, What 
proportion of the family income may go for food? 
What is the relation of the expenditure for food to 
that for rent, for clothing, for travel and amusement, 
for books and education? Second, What is the mini- 
mum cost per individual of food sufficient to give nec- 
essary nourishment? How much shall this minimum 
cost be exceeded for the sake of added attractiveness, 
increased digestibility, or adaptation to individual 
taste ? 

Nor is the cost of food a question of raw material 
alone. The amount of waste must be considered, the 
cost of the fuel used in cooking, and the cost of ser- 
vice. These often triple the original cost of the food. 

Mr. Atkinson has said that half the cost of life is 
the price of food. This broad statement is true only 
in the case of the small income. A fairer interpreta- 
tion of the matter is given by Dr. Engel, who has 
formulated four laws that in the main seem to hold, 
both in ideal and actual budgets. As quoted in The 



Proportion 
0^ Income 
for Food 



Raw Food 
Only Part 
of Cost 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 

DIVISION OF INCOME CHART 
Typical Famiiy of Two Adults and Three Children 




Running Expenses include Wages, Fuel, Light, Ice, Etc. With $1,000 
Income the Children Would he Educated in the Public Schools. 



The above chart was adapted from a large colored 
chart prepared under the direction of Mrs. E. H. 
Richards for the Mary Lowell Stone Exhibit on Home 
Economics. 



COST OF FOOD 9 

Cost of Living, the first of these laws is ''that the 
proportion between expenditure and nutriment grows 
in geometric progression in an inverse ratio to well- 
being; in other words, the higher the income, the 
smaller is the percentage of the cost of subsistence." 
That is, while clothing, rent, heating and lighting 
keep a nearly invariable proportion, whatever the in- 
come, the proportion expended for food varies from 
sixty per cent in an income of three hundred dollars 
to twenty-five per cent or less in the three thousand 
dollar income. 

In discussing the amount of money needed for lood, cost per 
it is usual to consider the amount expended for each per Day 
individual per day. How much is necessary to supply 
the required nourishment depends upon various factors. 
The locality will be important. As a rule, country 
prices are lower than those in the city, while in dififer 
ent sections of the same city there may be wide vari- 
ation. Eastern prices differ from those of the middle 
west, and these again from those prevalent in the far 
west or the south. In institutions where food is pur- 
chased in large amounts, the cost is less per person 
than in the individual household. An absolutely defi- 
nite statement is, therefore, impossible, but a number 
of experiments have shown that a sufficient amount of 
the simplest raw food material may, under favorable 
circumstances, be furnished for from eight to ten cents 
a day per person. This implies the absolute exclusion 
of all but the cheapest materials. Fifteen cents for 



lO 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



standards 



True 

Food 

Economy 



Cost of 
Cooking 



each person means a less limited choice in raw mate- 
rials, but the most careful management and the strict 
denial of anything approaching luxury. For twenty- 
five cents a day, one may add to the dietary a limited 
amount of fresh fruit and vegetables in season, coffee 
and other beverages, a fair supply of milk, and may 
furnish a satisfactory variety of food, while forty cents 
per person gives an excellent table with added lux- 
uries, though it will not purchase fruit out of season, 
such as strawberries in January, nor give an unlimited 
supply of high priced game and similar delicacies. 

In deciding what one of these standards to adopt, 
the number of members in the family and the total 
amount of income must be considered. The typical 
economic family, on which estimates are made, is one 
of five members, two adults and three children, or four 
adults. The real family often has six or eight mem- 
bers, and this additional number must modify the 
application of economic theories to real life. 

It is not desirable to cut down the expenditure for 
food to the lowest point at which nutritive food may 
be obtained if the income justifies a larger expendi- 
ture. Economy does not mean spending a small 
amount, but expending money in such a zvay that it 
may bring in the largest return. 

The cost of cooking modifies the expenditure for 
raw material. Often a cheap food, requiring long 
cooking, is in the end more expensive than a higher 
priced food requiring only a short cooking. This dif- 



COST OF FOOD ii 

ference is particularly marked in the case of such a 
fuel as gas. With a coal stove careful planning for 
the utilization of all the heat may mean only the differ- 
ence between the wasting of heat and the using of it. 
For example, the beans baking in the oven while iron- 
ing is going on add practically nothing to the amount 
of fuel used, while the beans baked in the gas oven 
must have the cost of the gas consumed added to their 
cost. It is quite possible that a cheap, tough piece 
of meat might consume so much gas in the long cook- 
ing necessary to stew it that its cost would be raised 
nearly to that of the more expensive cut that it sup- 
planted. 

Another element in the cost of food is that of the cost of 
labor consumed in preparation and in service. The 
time taken to prepare a certain dish must be added to 
the cost of the raw materials before we can fairly esti- 
mate the cost of that dish. It must be remembered, 
however, that a dish requiring long cooking does not 
necessarily involve the expenditure of much time in 
preparation. 

In a certain hotel having a large number of guests 
it was estimated that the extra time required to add 
a sprig of parsley to each plate of meat served meant 
the employment of an additional helper for the equiva- 
lent of one day a week. In the private family, the 
difference between a dinner served in three courses, 
or in four, means an expenditure of additional time 
that has a definite monev value. 



12 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Waste 
of Food 



Amount 

Harmony 

Flavor 



The waste of food must also be considered. This 
is of two kinds, necessary waste, and needless waste. 
It is foolish to say, as some have done, that the gar- 
bage can might be eliminated from our houses if 
greater care were taken. The parings of potatoes, 
the husks of corn, the pods of peas, must always be 
refuse. In one experiment it was found that because 
of the cost of service, it was cheaper to allow thick 
parings of potatoes to be thrown away than to pay 
for the care that would insure thin parings. On the 
other hand, the head of a certain institution found 
that the careful paring of the potato meant the actual 
saving of a large number of bushels each year. Mrs. 
Richards says, 'Tt is not food actually eaten that costs 
so excessively ; it is that wasted by poor cooking, by 
excessive quantity and by purchase out of season when 
the price is out of all proportion to its value. 

"Good judgment as to the amounts to be prepared, 
as to the harmony of the meal, the blend of flavor ; as 
to the right appetizers ; and good humor and cheerful 
conversation, with the most attractive setting and per- 
fect serving, will cut down the cost of almost any table 
one-half. Many seem to hold the idea that hospitality 
requires the setting of a double portion before the 
guests, and this alone doubles the cost of food in some 
families." 

She says again, "In no other department of house- 
hold expenditure is there so great an opportunity for 
the exercise of knowledge and skill with so good re- 



COST OF FOOD 



13 



suits for pocket and health ; no item of expense is so 
fully under individual control." 

On the other hand, Thudicum, in his Spirit of 
Cookery, refers to "the delusion of economical cookery 
with scraps costing nothing." He speaks of what is 
termed "the fearful waste in English kitchens," and 
says, "When we proceed to investigate the items of 
the alleged waste, we find them to consist of stale 
lumps of bread, bacon rind, and bare bones of boiled 
or roast joints." He quotes with scorn and denial a 
prominent medical journal which says, "The French 
cook makes excellent and nutritious soup out of mate- 
rials which the English housewife throws away as 
useless ; while her pot-au-feu is composed of stray 
scraps carefully husbanded, which cDst her nothing, 
but which, when skilfully combined, constitute a use- 
ful and inexpensive food." 

Perhaps the truth lies between the two extremes. 
To set an attractive table costs something in raw food 
material, in equipment and in service. The snowy 
table cloth, always spotless, so often suggested in nev/s- 
paper articles as a substitute for expensive food, 
means the expenditure of time, money and energy. 
The soup made from "scraps" involves expenditure 
of time and fuel, if not of money with which to pur- 
chase fresh material. The cost of saving may out- 
weigh the cost of material saved. But that there is 
much unnecessary waste in the average household can 
not be denied. Nor is the mere money value of the 



Economical 
Cookery 



True Cost 



14 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

material wasted the most serious part. The habits 
of carelessness and extravagance engendered show 
themselves in a lack of responsibility for material and 
indifference toward useless expenditure of time and 
energy as well as money, and in general thoughtless- 
ness. 
Conditions How the moncy to be expended shall be distributed 

Cases between different food materials must be largely a 
matter for the individual housekeeper since conditions 
vary so greatly. As a rule, vegetable foods are 
cheaper than animal. This may be counter-balanced 
by the more easy digestibility of the animal food, as 
we shall see in a later discussion. Whether one food 
or another is the cheaper source of a particular food 
principle depends upon the percentage composition and 
comparative cost of these foods. As is seen in Table 
I, potatoes at two cents per pound, i. e., 30 cents per 
peck, cost almost twice as much, so far as actual food 
value is concerned, as rice at five cents per pound. 
When rice is ten cents per pound, as it is in many 
places at present, and potatoes are one cent a pound, 
conditions are reversed. Sweet potatoes at five cents 
a pound must be definitely considered as a luxury when 
white potatoes may be had for one cent at the same 
place. 



COST OF FOOD 



15 



TABLE I 

Some Important Foods Considered as to Their Nutritive and 
Economic Values. 





Refuse, 
per cent. 


S-i 


Oi 

111 





Carbohy- 
drates, 
per cent. 




Nuts (peanuts, edible por- 
tion) 




9.2 


25.8 


38.6 


24.4 
100 
75.1 
74.6 
78.5 
79 
59.1 

"ib'.S 
5 

13.7 
12.9 


2560 


Sugar (granulated) 




1857 


Cornmeal (bolted) 




12 9 

12 5 

12.7 

12.4 

13.2 

55 

45 

67.1 

87 

44.5 

60 


8.9 

11 3 
7.1 
7.8 

22.3 

16 

12 
1.8 
3.3 
.7 
1 


2.2 
1.1 
.9 
.4 
1.8 
1.5 
4 

.1 
4 
.5 
.9 


1655 


Wheat flour (roller process) . 
Rve flour 




1645 
1630 


Rice 




1630 


Legumes (dried) 




1590 


Meats (as purchased about) . 
Fish (fresh) 


12 
30 
15 


928 

388 


Potatoes 


325 


Milk 


325 


Bananas 


40 
25 


290 


Fruit (apples, grapes, etc.) .. 


285 



Wheat flour at 2 cents per pound furnishes 3005 calories for 3.6 cents. 

Cornmeal at 3 " " " " " " " 5.4 " 

Wheat flour at 4 " " '■ " " " '• 7.2 " 

Rice at 5 " " '• " " " •' 9.2 " 

Potatoes at 1 " " " " " " " 9 

Legumes at 8 '• '• ". " " " " 15 " 

Milk at 2 '• " " " " '• '• 18 

Potatoes at 2 " " " " " " " 18 

Nuts (kernels) at 16 cents " " " " " " 19 " 

Cheese (American pale) at 14 " " '* " '• 20 " 

Fruit at 2 cents per pound " " " " 21 

Milkat3^ (7cent.saqt.) " " " '• 32 

Beef (medium fat) at 15 cents (15^c bone) '• " '• " 47 

Beef (sirloin) at 25 cents pCi- pound " . " " " 69 

Eggs at 25 cents per dozen " " •• "115 



(From The Cost of Food, by Mrs. Ellen H. Richards.) 



i6 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

Finding The most satisfactory way to get at the cost of food 

of Fo°od per individual in a family is to keep careful accounts 
over a considerable period of time, both of the actual 
expenditure for food, and of the number of meals 
served. To make an experiment for a definite time, 
one month for instance, look over the material on 
hand, estimating as accurately as possible the amounts 
of flour, of sugar, of spices, etc. At the end of the 
month, again take account of stock and estimate the 
value of the materials on hand. Add the difference 
if there is less, and subtract the difference if there 
is more, to the amount expended during the month, 
and the result will be the cost of the food. 

The following tables are records of actual expendi- 
ture for food. Table II gives the expenditure in two 
institutions in an eastern city, where, under the direc- 
tion of an expert, effort Vv^as made to provide a suffi- 
cient amount of food at the lowest price. 

The left-hand table gives the expenditure for food 
in a house of correction and the right-hand table for 
that in an orphans' home. In this table it will be 
noticed that one of the largest expenditures was for 
milk. The cost for food at the officers' table was 
about the same in both institutions. Provisions were 
bought at wholesale prices. 



COST OF FOOD 



17 



TABLE II 

Average Daily Cost of Food Materials per Person in Two Public 

Institutions in Boston. 



Number of Persons Fed. 



Meat and fish (fresh or salt) 

Eggs 

Cheese 

Milk 

Butter and Lard 

Flour, cornmeal, crackers. . , 

Oatmeal, hominy, rice 

Peas, Beans — . . . . 

Tapioca, sago, cornstarch . . 

Sugar 

Dried fruits 

Potatoes 

Fresh vegetables 

Apples 

Molasses. 



Cost per day per person. 



Inmates 


Officers 


Inmates 


523 


73 


333 


Cents 


Cents 


Cents 


4.67 


23 13 
1.14 


1.59 




0.26 


0.16 


0.93 


3.13 


3.75 




3.16 


0.07 


2 22 


0.75 


1.88 


0.46 


0.12 


0.27 


0.26 


0.04 


0.12 




0.04 


0.04 


0.62 


0.67 
0.06 


0.29 


0.38 


0.57 


0.17 


0.26 


0.48 




0.02 


0.26 




0.04 


0.04 


0.03 
8.37 


9.86 


33.85 



33.40 



(From Report of Institutions Commissioner of the City of Boston 

for 1897.) 



Table III is a record from the middle west, and is 
taken directly from the expense account of three col- 
lege girls who were trying to keep the cost of living 
as low as possible. There is no pretense to an ideal 
diet. Probably it was low in proteid, but the girls 
lived and apparently thrived upon it. 



Experience 
of College 
Girls 



i8 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



TABLE III 
Weekly Expense Account for Food for Three People. 



Second Week in October, 1903. 

Navy Beans .25 

Sardines .05 


lliird Week in 
Bread 


October, 


1903. 
05 


Grapes 

Bananas 




35 


Butterine .20 


.15 


Meal, corn .20 

Apples 20 

Bananas .... .10 


Raisins 

Crackers 

Bread 

Cheese 




10 

.10 

.10 


Bread .10 


.20 


Flour ... .10 


Meat. 




13 


Crackers .'0 


Milk 




.51 


Potatoes •2.5 


Meat 




.. .15 


Beef .40 


Cranberries . 




.10 


Salt pork. 07 

Bread . 20 


Cranberries 

Crackers . 




10 

.. .10 


Butter. .13 


Oleo 




.. . .20 


Butter .20 


Pork 




.05 


Prunes 05 

Celery. .05 

Milk 51 


Bread 

Salt 




.10 

.10 








$3.16 


$2.59 



Second Week in April, 
Bread. 


1904. 

.15 


Third Week in April, 
Soda crackers 


1904. 

.10 


Pork, fat 


. Lrt 


Crackers 

Can Tomatoes 


.10 


Radishes 


.(5 


10 


Cookies. 


15 


Ham 

Bread 


15 


Grapes 

Crackers 

Bread 


.... .20 

10 

.05 


05 


Oranges 

Beans 


.20 

. .05 


Honey 

Beefsteak 


.12 

.10 

.20 

08 

. . .10 


Crackers 

Effers 


10 

.18 


Crackers 


Flour 


.10 


Bananas 


Bread 


.05 


Oranges 


Apple butter 

Nuts 


10 


Lettuce 


.05 

.30 

40 


.03 


fippf boil 


Macaroni 


. .15 


Potatoes 


Sugar 


.25 


Bread 


05 


Blackberries 

Beans 


.20 


Strawberries 


.10 

05 


05 


Bread .... 


Pork steak 


.10 


Mnk 


.51 


Pickles 

Hamburg steak 


.10 


Apple butter 


10 

$2.91 


.15 


Bvitter 


.25 




Milk ........ 


51 

$3.07 



Total cost for three people for twenty-eight days. $11.83 

Average cost for one person for one day 0. 141 



COST OF FOOD 



19 



Table IV shows the expenditure in a summer home 
in the mountains. In this case no effort was made 
to reduce expense by excluding articles desired, but 
true economy was practiced in careful planning of 
meals and in utilizing all material. 



Liberal 
Table with 
High Prices 



TABLE IV 

Expenditure During the Summer of 1903, in a Mountain Town in New 

England, Some Miles from a Railroad. 





Lbs. 


Proteid 


Fat 

2.057 
25.9495 

.022 

.1065 
49.681 

.3615 
1.327 
3.719 

.303 
3.775 


Carbohyd'te 


Pish 


44 5 

83 88 
4. 
3.5 
343.1 
28. 
16 
151 16 
87. 
250.5 


5 9345 
24.2.59 
.088 
0805 
13.616 
2 . 3775 
1 353 
11.680 
564 
8.915 

68.866 
106.5 grams 
3.76 oz. 




Meats 




Soups 




Dried Fruit 

Dairy 


2 . 6735 
14 3.",4 


Cereals 

Bakeries 

Sugar and starches 
Fruit 


19.099 

10.597 

116 717 

11 349 


Vegetables 


36 06 






293 Days (1 person) 
Each day per pers'n 


1011.64 
3.45 lbs. 


87.444 
135.17 grams 
4.78 oz. 


210.8495 
326. 1 grams 
11.51 oz. 



Total cost, $114.14. Cost per day, per person, $0.39. 
The number of meals served was 878. This is taken as 
equivalent to 293 days for one person. 

The prices of some of the chief articles of food 
are given here. 



Beef roast 
Beefsteak.. ..28 
Lamb roast. .18 
Lamb chops . 25 
Veal '• .20 

Chicken .25 

Fowl , 20 

Halibut .... ..16 



20 cents per pound 



Salmon 30 cents per pound 

Haddock 6 

Potatoes 20 and 25 cents per peck 

Cream . — 25 cents per quart 

Milk 5 ' 

Butter 28 •• •• pound 

Eggs. . . 28 and 30 cents per dozen 



20 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



The following tables give in detail the weight and 
composition of the various food used. 



Fish 



Mackerel 

Salmon 

Halibut 

Haddock . . , 
Dressed Cod 

Lobster 

Blue fish . . . . 
Cod (salt) . . . 

Herring 

Sardines 



Lbs. Prot. 


12M 1 


275 


4 


612 


6 


918 


8K 


693 


2 


222 


1^ 


0835 


2K 


225 


3 


762 


2 


224 


4 


92 


44.5 5 


9345 



Fat 



.525 

.356 

.264 

.0165 

.004 

.003 

.0135 

.009 

.078 



2.057 



Carb. 



Meats 





Lbs. 


Prot. 


Fat 


Carb. 


Steak 


14 K 

43/i 
13% 

1^ 
14K 

2^ 

4^ 

5 

1 

1 

1 

4 

1 

2 


3.405 
7.006 

.954 
2.984 

.106 
2.978 

.482 
4.095 

.192 
.095 
.128 
1.052 
.392 
.390 


1.4535 

9.799 

.357 

.346 

1.002 

3.304 

.407 

2.6685 

5.000 

.162 

.1705 

.014 

.748 

.054 

.464 




Lamb 




Veal 




Chicken 




Pork (salt) 




Ham 




Fowl.... 

Bacon 




Lard 




SI. Ham 




Pot. Ham 

Chicken 




Corn beef 




Dried beef. 




Tongue, Ox 










83.88 


24.259 


25.9495 





Soup 





Lbs. 


Prot. 


Fat 


Carb. 


Julienne 


1 
2 
1 


.027 
.036 
.025 


.022 




Tomato 




Corn 






4 


.088 


.022 





COST OF FOOD 



21 



Dried Fruit 





Lbs. 


Prot. 

.078 
.0025 


Fat 


Carb. 


Seed raisins 


3 

V2 


.099 
.0075 

.1065 


2.283 


Citron. 


.3905 




3^ 


.0805 


2.6735 



Dairy 





Lbs. 


Prot. 


Fat 


Carb. 


Eggs.. ; 


27.6 

240. 

38.5 

3. 

34. 


3.643 

7.920 

.962 

.751 

.34 


3.312 
9.60 
7.022 
.847 
28.9 




120 qts. milk 


12.00 


\9li qts. cream 


1.732 


Cbeese 


622 


Butter 






343.1 


13.616 


49.681 


14.354 



Cereals 





Lbs. 


Prot. 


Fat 


Carb. 


Rice 


4^2 

4 

1 

1 

12 

2 


.126 
.484 
.105 
.11 
1.104 
.290^ 
.158 


.004^4 

.072 

.014 

.014 

.228 

.021 

.008 


1.098 


Wheat. 


3.008 


Sh. Wheat . 


.779 


Farina ". 


.763 


Corn Meal. 


9.048 


Hominy 


2.765 


RiceFl 


1.638 




28 


2.3771/4 


.361/2 


19.099 



Bakeries 





Lbs. 


Prot. 


Fat 


Carb. 


U. Biscuits 


2 

6 
9 

I 
2 

2 

1 


.196 
.486 
.130 
.066 
.134 
.234 
.106 


.182 

.414 

.172 

.140 

.193 

.10 

.127 


1.462 


Bread 


3.252 


Gin. Snaps . 


1.53 


Van. Cr 


.716 


Mis. Cookies ■ 


1.448 


Water Cr 


1.514 


Saltines 


.685 








16 


1.353 


1.327 


10.597 



22 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Sugars and Starches 





Lbs. 


Prot. 


Fat 


Garb. 


2 qts. Molasses 


6 
40 

8 

1 
70 
15 

3 

2 

2 
2^ 


.144 

.402 
7.70 
2.07 
.204 
.242 
.008 
.322 
.588 


.027 
.63 

.285 
.027 
.008 


4.158 


Sugar 


40. 


1 gal. Svrup 


11.016 


Maccaroni . 


2.223 


S. D. Flour 


42.08 


F. M. Flour 


10.785 


Rye Flour 

Spaghetti 


2.361 
1.526 


Honey 

Chocolate 

Almonrts 


1.624 


1.217 
1.525 


.657 
.287 








151 H 


11.680 


3.719 


116.717 



Fruit 



Oranges 

Lemons 

Currants 

Raspberries. 

Melons (12) 

5 doz. peaches . . 

Apples 

Plums 

Bananas 

Box berries . . . . . 

Grapes 

3 pears. 

2 pineapples. .. . 

3 canteloupes. . . 
Canned peaches 

Pears 

Cherries 

Qr. Mar 

Quince. 

Currants 



Lbs. 

3 

6 

1 

1 

12 

7 
25 

2 

1 

5 

4 
3 
4 
1 
. 4 



87 



Prot. 



.024 

.06 

.015 

.017 

.036 

.05 

.100 

.02 

.019 

.017 

.065 

.003 

.016 

.009 

.028 

.003 

.044 

.012 

.014 

.012 

..564 



Fat 



.006 
.024 



.01 



.125 



.009 

.01 

.08 

.002 

.012 

.004 
.003 
.004 
.002 
.002 
.012 

..S05 



Carb. 



.348 
.510 
.128 
.126 
.552 
.03 

3.550 
.402 
.55 
.126 
.960 
.071 
.388 
.138 
.432 
.180 
.844 

1.690 
.216 
.108 

11.349 



COST OF FOOD 



23 



Vegetables 



Sweet Pot... 

Beets 

Potatoes. 

Peas — 

Beans 

Squashes 

Cabbage , 

Tomatoes 

Carrots 

Olives 

Mushrooms . 

Baked beans. ... 
Asparagus Tips 

Corn 

Split Peas.. 

Dried beans . 



Lbs. 



Prot. 



31 


.93 


30 


.480 


821^ 


2.063 


29 


2.03 


5 


.115 


2 


.028 


10 


.160 


20 


.18 


3 


.022 


1 


.008 


3 


.07 


20 


1.38 


10 


.210 


1 


.031 


4 


.984 


1 


.225 



250.5 



8.915 



Fat 



Carb. 



.656 
.03 
.26 
1.18 
.15 
.01 
.30 
.08 
.008 
.202 
.008 
.800 
.330 
.011 
.04 
.015 



4.08 



13 051 

2 910 

5-430 

4.901 

.370 

.180 

.560 

.780 

.186 

.08 

.136 

3.920 

.220 

.197 

2.480 

.659 



36.060 



As an example of fairly attractive menus with low 
priced foods, the following extract from Bulletin No. 
129 of the Office of Experiment Station, U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture, by Miss Bertha M. Terrill, 
may be of interest: 

"In February, 1902, the students of the Bible Nor- 
mal College, situated then in Springfield, ]\Iass., voted 
to save a sum of money, which they desired to raise 
for a special object, by reducing the cost of their table 
board. They had been paying $3 per w^eek for table 
board at the time, or very nearly 43 cents per person 
per day, which of course included the cost of fuel, 
preparation, and service, estimated to be 10.6 cents' 
per person per day. Learning that it has been found 
possible to provide a balanced and nourishing diet for 
10 cents per man per day for the raw food, they en- 
tered eagerly into an experiment with a diet to cost 
that amount for food materials only, the cost of prep- 



A Typical 
Investigation 



24 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

aration, etc., to remain the same as before, making 
the total cost of the daily food as served 20.6 cents 
per person, or 22.4 /cents less than their ordinary diet. 
There were 30 students interested in this project, and 
it was planned to continue the investigation three days, 
as this would suffice to save the $20 desired." "^ * 
The menus for the dififerent days covered by the 
study were as follows : 

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8. 

BreaJcfast.—02itrae2i\ and top of milk, fish cakes, toast (with a little 
butter) , prunes, milk and cereal coffee. 

Dinner. —Beef soup, croutons, beans (baked with pork), brown bread, 
apricot shortcake. 

Supper.— Sandwiches (cheese and jelly), white and graham bread (no 
butter), sliced bananas, milk. 

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9. 

^r^a^/as^.— Corn-meal mush and top of milk, baked beans, buns, 
milk and cereal coffee. 

Dinner. —Sj>\it-ipea soup and crackers (crisped) , potted beef, brown 
eauce, baked potatoes, bread, rice with milk and sugar. 

AS'u^^^'e/*.— Brown-bread sandwiches (with a little butter) , white-bread 
sandwiches with date and peanut filling without butter, cocoa, popcorn 
salted. 

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10. 

5r^o*/asi.— Oatmeal with top of milk, cream toast, cereal coffee. 
Dmner.— Baked-bean soup, crisp crackers, Hamburg steak balls, 
brown sauce, hominy, turnip, peanuts and dates. 

Supper.— Fota,to and beet salad, gingerbread, cheese, bread, milk. 

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11. 

Breakfast.— Whesit breakfast food and dates, creamed codfish 
muffins (with little butter) , milk and cereal coffee. 

Dinner.— Beef Stew with biscuits, bread pudding, bread. 

/S^u^'i'^^-— Scalloped meat and potato, bread (with butter), prunes 
chocolate candy "fudge." 



COST OF FOOD 25 

WEDNESDAY, FEBBTJABY 12. 

Breakfast.— 0-d,tinea,l with top of milk, hash, corn calce, milk and 
cereal coffee. 

i>i/i«.er.— Vegetable soup, croutons, baked stuffed beef's heart, brown 
sauce, rice, cornstarch blanc mange, caramel sauce. 

5i/;;;je/-.— Potato and celery salad, white and graham bread, fried corn- 
meal mush, sirup, 

THUESDAY, FEBBUABY 13. 

Breakfast.— Corn-iaea,! mush with top of milk, hashed meat on toast, 
milk and cereal coffee. 

Binner.-Salt salmon, drawn butter sauce, baked potatoes, parsnips, 
bread, evaporated apple shortcake. 

Supper.— Cold sliced beef's heart, creamed potatoes, cocoa, bread 
(white and graham) , ginger snaps. 

"The family in this experiment consisted of 30 stu- ^j^^ 
dents — 26 women and 4 men — ranging in age from 25 Family 
to 45 years. Considering the 4 men as equivalent to 
5 women as regards food consumption, the family for 
six days was equivalent to 186 women for one day. 

"The cost of the diet, 9.4 cents per woman per day, cost of 
was just within the limit set, but the quantities of nu- 
trients and energy (75 grams of protein and 2,243 
calories) were somewhat smaller than was intended. 

"The low cost of the diet in this experiment was 
made possible by the selection of simple and inexpensive 
food materials and by reducing the quantities of some 
foods commonly used rather abundantly, as meat and 
butter. Most of the students felt quite satisfied with the 
food. The curtailing of the amount of butter served 
at the table was considered the greatest deprivation; 
a small pat, about half the customary size, being 
served to each where butter is indicated with bread on 
the menu. 



26 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Economy 

and 

Nourishment 



Dainty- 
Serving: 



"The importance from the standpoint of economy 
of selecting foods which are nourishing rather than 
those having a low food value but which please the 
palate and add to the attractiveness of the diet, is 
illustrated by a dietary study made of a family in New 
Jersey in which it was found that $2.16 was expended 
in three weeks for oranges and $3 for celery, making a 
total of $5.16 for these two articles, which together 
furnished only 150 grams of protein and 6,445 calories 
of energy. During the same period $5.16 was also 
expended for cereal foods and sugars, which supplied 
3,375 grams of protein and 184,185 calories of energy, 
or about twenty-five times the amount furnished by 
the oranges and celery. Of course, the sum expended 
for these articles was not excessive and they undoubt- 
edly helped to make the diet palatable and pleasing, a 
by no means unimportant consideration, but it is evi- 
dent that they were not economical sources of nutri- 
tive material. 

'*In the present investigation it was found to be 
well worth while to use special care in arranging the 
dishes for serving, that they might be as appetizing in 
appearance as possible. Much care was also ob- 
served in avoiding waste both by careful preparation 
and by the use of all 'left overs.' " 

In the following table is given the details of cost, 
weight and nutritive value of the food used in this 



nivestigation. 



COST OF FOOD 
Weights and Cost of Food and Nutrients 



27 



Food consumed during the entire 
study (6 days). 


Cost, nutrients, and fuel value 
per woman per day. 


Kinds and amounts. 


■4J 





Cost. 

Pro- 
tein. 




Car- 
bohy- 
drates. 


pa 


ANIMAL FOOD. 

Beef: Hearts, 11 lb., 38c. ; round, 
10.5 lb. , $1.05 ; rump, 10 lb., 80c. : 
shank, fore, 3 lb. ; brisket 
(stew), 7.25 lb., 50c.... 

Pork: Bacon, 2 lb., 30c.; salt 
pork, 2 lb. , 18c. ; lard, 1 lb., 12c . . 

Fish: Cod, salt, 4 lb., 42c. ; salm- 
on, salt, 5 lb. , 40c 


Dols. 

2.73 

.60 

.82 
33 

2.25 
.30 

2.70 


Cts. 

1.5 

.3 

.4 
.2 

K2 

.2 

1.4 


Gms. 

15 
1 
5 


Gms. 

19 
8 
2 


Gms. 


Cal. 
ories. 

229 
75 

38 


Eggs, 1 lb., 33c 




Butter, 91b., $2.25 


...... 

17 


19 
2 

20 


'■■26' 


169 


Cheese, 2 lb., 30c 


22 


Milk, 210 lb., $2.70.. 


350 






Total animal food 


9 73 


5.2 1 39 

1 


70 


2fi 


883 




1 




VEGETABLE FOOD. 

Cereals: Corn meal, 101b., 29c.: 
pop corn, 1 lb., 5c.; hominy, 
1.44 lb., 5c.; oatmeal, 4.5 lb.. 
15c. ; rice, 4 lb., 28c.; graham 
flour, 101b., 25c.; white flour. 
66 lb., $1.55; crackers, Boston, 
0.751b., 4c 


2.CC 
1.60 

• 2.36 
1.07 


1.4 

.9 

1.3 
.6 


27 
1 

7 
1 


4 
1 

1 
2 


178 
54 

41 
13 


856 


Sugars, starches, etc.: Sugar, 
granulated, 20 lb., $1; mo- 
lasses, 2. 33 lb., 36c. ; cornstarch. 
0.33 lb., 2c.; cocoa, I lb., 17c.; 
chocolate, 0.12 lb., 5c. 


229 


Vegetables: Beans, lima, 2 lb.. 
18c.; beans, pea, 2.44 lb.. 10c. ; 
beets, 1.25 lb., 4c.; cabbage, 5 
lb., 10c. ; carrots, 1.25 lb.. 2c.; 
celery, 2.061b., 10c. ; parsnips, 
4.69 lb., 15c.; peas, split. 1.69 
lb., 13c. ; potatoes, 80 lb., $1.47; 
turnips, 5.51b., 7c. 


201 


Fruits, nuts, etc.: Apricots. 1.5 
lb., 17c.; bananas, 7 lb., 30c.; 
dates, 2 lb., I2c. ; prunes, 2 lb., 
18c.; raisins, 0.25 lb., 2c.; pea- 
nuts, 2 lb., 25c.; crab-apple 
jelly, 0.2 lb., 3c 


74 






Total vegetable food 


7.69 


4.2 


36 


8 


286 


1,360 


Total food 


17.42 


9.4 


75 


78 


312 


2,243 



28 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 
Chart of Composition of Foods 



Nutrients. 



Protein. Fats. Carbo- Mineral 
hydrates, mattera 



Non-nutrients. 
Water. Refuse. 



Fuel value. 
Calories. 




• wuhoui bone. 



COST OF FOOD 

Chart of Pecuniary Economy of Food 

fivtkut. fait Caxhokydrates nutValuJS) 



29 




From Fanners' Bulletin, No. 142. 



Composition 



Function 
of Food 



FOOD AND THE BODY 

It is impossible to decide intelligently how the money 
available for food shall be distributed among different 
food materials without understanding something of the 
composition of these food materials, and of the rela- 
tion of food to the needs of the body. Experience has 
taught us many things, but the accumulation of experi- 
ence needs interpretation by definite scientific knowl- 
edge. Until lately this knowledge was in the hands 
of only a few, and even then in so indefinite a form 
that it was not available for the housekeeper, no mat- 
ter how well trained, and hardly for an educated phy- 
sician. 

Much progress has been made, but even to-day the 
housekeeper is often a little slow in availing herself 
of the knowledge she needs. This is partly because 
of the common feeling that what our fathers and 
mothers knew is enough for us, and partly because so 
much of the information is still locked up in more or 
less technical books, and the ordinary housekeeper, 
even though she be well educated, has not the key. 
It is to furnish the key to some of this knowledge 
that this series of lessons is written. 

We all know in a general way that food nourishes 
us and makes us strong. But when we try to inter- 
pret this general idea into specific terms we find that 
we do- not realize its meaning. Nothing is in the strict 
sense a food unless it performs at least one of three 

30 



FOOD AND THE BODY 31 

functions, (i) that of building the body, (2) furnishing 
heat, and (3) giving power to work. 

The first function of food, that of building the body, 
is exercised not only in the growing child, where 
the material that can be transformed into bones and 
muscles, blood and nerve tissue, must be furnished by 
food, but in the adult, since even after growth has 
ceased, the constant waste of the body tissue must be 
repaired by food. So far as this function is concerned, 
the composition of the body must determine to a great 
extent the kind of material that may be used as food. 
It is easy to see that the body can be built only by 
foods containing the same elements, and that the pro- 
portion of these elements must bear some relation to 
their proportion in the body. It is reasonable to ex- 
pect that the elements are combined in food in a way 
similar to that in which they are combined in the 
body 

The body of a man of average weight has been esti- 
mated to contain the following amounts of the various 
combinations known as the proximate principles : 

Water 108 lbs. 

Mineral matter 1 1 .00 

Proteid 29.75 

Fat 5.00 

Carbohydrates .25 

Total 154.00 

It will be judged from this that so far as the organic 
food principles proteid, carbohydrate and fat are con- 
cerned, proteid holds the chief place as a tissue former. 



Building 
Foods 



Composition 
of the Body 



32 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Fuel and Not Only must the body have its actual material 

Foods furnished by the food, but from this also must be 
derived its energy. 



Heat 



Work 




ATWATER'S RESPIRATION CALORIMETER. 
A Man Lives in the "Box" for Days and the Actual Heat and Energy- 
Obtained from the Food Consumed is Determined. (Seepage52.) 

The two forms of energy with which we are espe- 
cially concerned in our study of the body are heat 
and power to work. 

Heat is required to maintain the body temperature 
necessary in order that the processes of life may be 
carried on. 

The work performed may be considered as of two 
kinds, internal and external. The internal work is 
that used in maintaining the different functions of 



FOOD AND THE BODY 



33 



the body itself. The beating of the heart, breath- 
ing, the absorption of food, all require the expenditure 
of energy ; this internal work requires a large portion 
of the available power. As in all machines, energy is 
lost in the form of radiant heat, but the body is con- 
sidered an efficient machine because a larger propor- 
tion of energy is available for external work than in 
most engines constructed by man. 

The amount of energy required for external work is 
a variable factor, and the work to be done is conse- 
quently important in determining the amount of food 
necessary. 

So far as present knowledge goes, we may say that 
the energy of the body is derived from the oxidation 
(or combustion) of food that takes place in the tis- 
sues of the body. The process is undoubtedly a com- 
plex one, far from the simple union of the food with 
the air we breathe, and probably implies the actual 
building of the food into body substance, but we are 
concerned chiefly with the final result rather than the 
process by which it is reached. 

All combustible substances have what is known as 
potential energy. This might be defined as stored-up 
energy. It implies that energy from some exterior 
source has been used in producing the substance in 
its present form. For instance, heat from the sun 
has been utilized in the formation of the starch or 
proteid in the plant, and this energy is again set free 
in the oxidation or the decomposition of the substance. 



External 

Work 

Variable 



Source of 
Energy 



Potential 
Energy 



34 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

Potential energy may perhaps be most easily under- 
stood by thinking of one form of it, energy of position. 
A weight lifted to a height has by virtue of its place 
a certain amount of potential energy. The fall of the 
weight from its position will convert its potential 
energy into active or kinetic energy by which work is 
accomplished. 

The waste materials of the body have little or no 

potential energy, and the outgo of the body differs in 

this important respect from its income. If the foocj 

taken in is only partially oxidized, the waste material 

still contains some energy, and this potential energy 

must be substracted from" that of the income in order 

to find the amount available for the use of the body. 

Unit of The value of a food to produce heat and mechanical 

"^Energy energy is measured by the amount' of heat that may be 

produced by it, and the unit of measure is the calorie. 

A calorie is the amount of heat required to raise about 

one pound of water four degrees Fahrenheit, or, 

accurately, the amount of heat required to raise 

one kilogram of water one degree centigrade. This 

is the large calorie, and it is sometimes written with 

a capital C to distinguish it from the small calorie. 

The small calorie has a value one-thousandth as great. 

The term used in this paper means the large calorie. 

It has been found that there is an exact quantitative 

relation betwen heat and work, expressed by the term 

mechanical equivalent of heat. Experiments have 

shown that about 778 foot-pounds of work are con- 



FOOD AND THE BODY 



35 




sumv:d in heating one pound of water one degree Fahr- 
enheit, or 1400 foot-pounds in heating the same amount 
of water one degree Centigrade. In other words, the 
same amount of energy would be ex- 
pended in heating a pound (about one 
pint) of water one degree Fahrenheit, as 
in raising a weight of 778 pounds one 
foot, or a weight of one pound 778 feet. 
By the same calculations a calorie is 
equivalent to 3,087 foot-pounds. The 
calorie then is used as a convenient meas- 
ure not only of quantity of heat, hut of 
mechanical energy, or pozver to work. 

One gram of proteid has been found to The "Bomb" of 

^ ^, a Bomb Cal- 

yield 4.1 calories; a gram of carbo- orimeter. 
hydrate yields the same amount, while a 
gram of fat yields 9.3 calories. Or more than twice 
as much heat can be obtained from a given amount of 
fat as from the same amount of either proteid or carbo- 
hydrate. 

The number of calories any particular food will 
yield theoretically is determined by the use of the 
bomb calorimeter. A portion of food of a given 
weight is enclosed in an iron shell or "bomb," which 
is then immersed in a given amount of water and the 
temperature of the water taken. By means of an 
electric spark the contents of the bomb are ignited and 
burned, and the temperature of the water is again 
taken at the end of the combustion. For instance. 



Mechanical 
Equivalent 
of Heat 



Bomb 
Calorimeter 



36 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



if the burning of one gram of meat raised the tem- 
perature of one kilogram (about two pounds) of watei 
seven degrees Centigrade, that amount of meat would 
be said to yield seven calories. 



CHART OF HEAT AND ENERGY 
Values in Calories of some Common Foods 



Calories it\ I 
MILK 

Butter 

CHEESE 

EOGS 

BEEP feiTJoin atcsW 

BEEE (Toufld^ 

MUTTONf LEG 

FOWL 

COD (boneless salt) 

CODCfresK) 

OYSTERS 

APPLES 

BANANAS 

SUGAR' 

FLOUR O-'liitd 

FLQUP^ttre wKcjct) 

BREAD 

CRACKERS 

MACARONI 

CORN IVIEAL 

-I^ICE 

POTATOES. 

DRIED BEANS^ 

DRIED PEAS 

LETTUCE 

ALMONDS 

RAISINS 

CHOCOLATE 



lb -600 laOO 1500 2000 2500 300O 3500 



I I 



The chart given shows the number of calories yield- 
ed by several dififerent foods. 

There is one factor that is often not sufficiently 
considered in determining the amount of energy ob- 



FOOD AND THE BODY 



37 



tainable from food. A food may yield excellent re- 
sults in the calorimeter and yet be of little service 
in the body because of its lack of digestibility. It is 



CHART OF COMPOSITION OF FOODS 
Percentage of Nutrients of Edible Portion, i, e., Without Bone, etc. 



lOX ^''>y- 30X -yy; soy. 60X tox box QOK too^ 



MILK 

BUTTER 

CHEESE 

EGGS 

BiZEF ("sirloin steaK) 

BEEF (round) 

MUTTONJ LEG 

FOWL 

COD (boneless salt) 

CODCfresli) 

OYSTERS 

APPLES 

BANANAS 

SUGAR 

FLOURCwh.te) 

FLOURCentire wheof) 

BREAD 

CRACKERS 

MACARONI 

CORN MEAL 

RICE 

POTATOES 

DRIED BEANS 

DRIED PEAS 

LETTUCE 

ALMONDS 

RAISINS 

CHOCOLA~E 




PROTEID^ 



FAT 



CARBOHYDRATE 
WATER[ 
ASH ■ 



by no means the food we eat but the food we assimilate 
that nourishes us. The portion of food that is really 
absorbed by the body differs greatly under different 
conditions and with different food materials. Many 



38 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Digestibility 
of Food 



careful experiments have been made of late, and more 
will be made to determine the amount assimilated in 
different cases. This element of digestibility is fre- 
quently not taken into account, and the value of a 
food is estimated wholly from its chemical composition. 

Some reasons for this are the great difficulty in de- 
termining the digestibility of a food, the fact that 
this digestibility may vary from time to time according 
to the condition of the body, and the fact that the 
personal equation enters largely into the matter. 

The accompanying tables showing the comparative 
digestibility of some common foods are therefore 
merely a general statement, and represent average re- 
sults. 



Table of Digestibility and Fuel Value per Pound of Nutrients in Dif- 
ferent Groups of Food Materials. (Atwater.) 



Kind of food. 



Meats and fish 

Eggs 

Dairy products ■ 

Animal food (of mixed diet) . . 

Cereals 

Liegumes (dried) 

Sugars 

Starches 

Vegetables 

Fruits. 

Vegetable foods (of mix'd diet) 
Total food (of mixed diet) . . . . 



Protein. 



Digest! 
bilitv. 



Per 
cent. 

97 
97 
97 
97 
85 
78 



Fuel 

value per 

pound 



Calories. 

1,940 
1,980 
1,940 
1,940 
1.750 
1,570 



1.410 
1,520 
1,840 

1,820 



Fat. 



Digesti- 
bility . 



Per 
cent. 

9P 
95 
95 
95 
90 
90 



Fuel 

value per 

pound. 



Calories. 

4,040 
4,090 
3,990 
4,050 
3,800 
3,800 



3.800 
3.800 
3.800 
4,050 



Carbohydr'ts 



Digesti- 
bility. 



Per 

cent. 

98 
98 
98 
98 
98 
97 
98 
98 
95 
90 
97 
97 



Fuel 

value per 

pound. 



Calories. 

1,730 
1,730 
1,730 
1,730 
1,860 
1,840 
1,750 
1,860 
1,800 
1,630 
1,820 
1,820 



FOOD AND THE BODY 



39 



Table of Comparative Digestibility, Commencing with the Most 

Digestible and Ending with the Least Digestible of Meats 

and Other Common Animal Food. 



Oysters. 

Soft-cooked eggs. 

Sweetbread. 

White fish, boiled or broiled, such 

as bhiefish, shad, red snapper, 

weakfish, smelt. 
Chicken, boiled or broiled. 
Leanroast beef or beefsteak. 
Eggs, scrambled, omelette. 
Mutton, roasted or boiled. 
Squab, partridge. 
Bacon. 
Roast fowl, chicken, capon, 

turkey. 

(From W. Gilman Thompson.) 



Tripe, brains, liver. 

Roast lamb. 

Chops, mutton or lamb 

Corned beef. 

Veal. 

Ham. 

Duck, snipe, venison, rabbit, and 

other game. 
Salmon, mackerel, herring. 
Roast goose. 
Lobsters and crabs. 
Fork. 
Smoked, dried, or pickled fish 

and meats in general. 



It should be noticed that the fuel value obtained w 
the body from the various classes of foods is somewhat 
less than the theoretical amount mentioned on page 
35, because they are not completely digested and as- 
similated nor completely oxidized in the body. The 
following values are used in the U. S. Government 
reports as representing average conditions : 

Proteid, fuel value, 4 calories pey gram, or 1.820 calories per pound. 
Fats, fuel value, 8.9 calories per gram, or 4,040 calories per pound. 
Carbohydrates, fuel value, 4 calories per gram, or 1 ,820 calories per pound. 

The foods that are particularly useful in furnishing 
heat and energy for the body, the carbohydrates and 
fats, are frequently called the fuel foods, although 
proteid can act as fuel just as readily as can these. 
Since the proteids, however, have a more important 
function and are most expensive, the other foods are 
used as proteid sparers. The amount of these fuel 
foods that IS to be taken depends not upon the amounts 



Fuel Value 
in the Bod^ 



Fuel and 

Energy 

Foods 



40 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

present in the body, but upon the amount of heat and 
energy to be produced. 
The Body The Comparison is frequently made between the 

An Engine body and an engine, the food representing the fuel, 
the air taken in through the lungs representing the 
draft, the waste matters of the body corresponding to 
the smoke and ashes from the engine fire. In many 
ways this is a helpful comparison, but we need to keep 
in mind the essential differences between the human 
body and the mechanical engine as well as their like- 
ness. Combustion in the body is much slower than 
in the machine, and is therefore not accompanied by 
light, though by the oxidation of the same amount of 
fuel the same total amount of heat is produced. Oxi- 
dation in the body takes place not in one central cavity, 
but in every tissue, and, most important of all, the 
fuel furnished the body probably becomes part of 
its own substance before it is oxidized. Moreover if it 
is not sufficient in amount the waste of tissue proceeds 
faster than its repair, and there is a constant loss of 
body substance. 



FOOD PRINCIPLES 



In this and other series of lessons we have already 
discussed the food principles to some extent. Let us 
consider them now somewhat more in detail. 



PROTEIDS 

The proteids are more difficult to understand than 
the other food principles because different members 
of the class seem at first sight to have little in com- 
mon. A few simple experiments that will isolate some 
typical proteids in a more or less pure state will serve 
to give a clearer image. 

To a quarter of a cup of flour add very slowly a 
tablespoon of water and stir it until the flour is com- 
pletely moistened, then work the dough in the hands 
until it becomes smooth and elastic, and finally wash 
it under cold water until fresh water added no longer 
grows milky. This will take from fifteen to twenty 
minutes. If a little iodine is at hand add a drop. If 
no blue color appears the starch is all washed out. 
There will be left in the hands a sticky, elastic mass, 
called gluten. Save part of this for comparison with 
other proteids and bake the rest in a hot oven. 

Add a little acid, such as lemon or vinegar, to some 
milk, and heat it gently. Wash the curd thus formed 
in order to separate it from the whey. The curd is 
chiefly composed of casein. 

With. a knife scrape a piece of lean meat until the 
tender -muscle fibre is separated from the firm white 

41 



Different 
Proteids 



Gluten 



Casein 



42 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Myosin 



Legumin 



Composition 
of Proteids 



connective tissue. The fibre represents one of the 
chief proteids of meat, called myosin. Beside the glu- 
ten, the casein, and the myosin, put the white of an 
egg, and you have before you the four chief represen- 
tatives of the proteids of our food. 

If we could add to them legumin, the proteid found 
in peas, beans, and other members of the pulse fam- 
ily, we should have a fifth important member of the 
class. 

If we compare these substances, we shall find that 
although at first they seem very different, they yet 
have certain properties in common. All, for instance, 
to a greater or less extent, show the elasticity and 
tenacity that is so marked in gluten; all of them are 
toughened by a high temperature ; and all when dried 
may be ground to powder similar in texture and ap- 
pearance. 

These physical likenesses, however, would hardly 
be sufficient to place these substances in one group. 
It is only when we consider the chemical composition 
of each and the function that each has in the body 
that we are justified in classing them together as pro- 
teids. Proteids are substances containing the elements 
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur and fre- 
quently phosphorus. They alone of the food princi- 
ples are able to supply nitrogen, one of the essential 
elements in all living things, whether animal or vege- 
table, and one that we are forced to obtain from our 
food, since, although we are surrounded by an atmos- 



FOOD PRINCIPLES 



43 



phere that is nearly four-fifths nitrogen, we cannot 
utiHze it in this form. 

Beside the true proteids, there are certain other sub- 
stances which also contain nitrogen, but which are 
classed separately because they cannot alone supply 
the nitrogen needed by the body, though they can re- 
place part of the proteid in the diet, and perform its 
function. Gelatine is one of the test known of these 
substances. They are called gelatinoids or albumin- 
oids. Ossein, of which bone is largely composed, ker- 
atin, the horny material present in the hair and in the 
horns and hoofs of animals, collagen, forming the 
greater part of the connective tissue of meat, are all 
representatives of the same class of substances. All 
these named may be changed into gelatin by boiling. 

Certain other nitrogenous substances called extrac- 
tives, are present in some foods. It is these that give 
flavor to meat, and that form the chief ingredients of 
the extracts of beef on the market; and it is these 
that give the chief value to beef tea and to clear soup. 
The extractives act as stimulants rather than as true 
foods since they neither build tissue nor act as fuel, 
but they seem to play some role in digestion. 

The proteids, gelatinoids, and extractives, are 
sometimes classed together under the general name 
of protein. This is the usage of the United States 
Government pamphlets. The nomenclature applied 
to the nitrogenous substances is very confusing, since 
each author seems to have adopted his own. Albumi- 



Gelatin 



Extractives 



Nomen- 
clature 



44 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



noid, for instance, is sometimes used to designate the 
true proteids, and sometimes is applied to the gelatin- 
oids. Proteid is sometimes used in a much more Hm- 
ited sense than we have given to it, inckiding only 
certain classes of the substances ordinarily designated 
by the term. 

In studying the subject, therefore, one rnust first 
of all ascertain the writer's use of terms. 

CARBOHYDRATES 

Composition The carbohydrates are so 

called because they are 
composed of the elements 
carbon, hydrogen and oxy- 
gen, the last two in the pro- 
portion in which they are 
found in water. This last 
statement, although it is 
generally made in defining 
carbohydrates, is not strict- 
ly true, since a few of the 
less common members of 
the class are found to vary 
somewhat from this pro- 
portion. 
The principal carbohydrates may be classed in three 
groups. The following table shows the chief mem- 
bers of these different groups, so far as our food is 
concerned. 









Grains of Potato Starch. 



FOOD PRINCIPLES 
Classification of Carbohydrates 



45 



Starch (or Amylase) 
. Group. 

Starch 

Dextrin 

Cellulose 

Gums 

Glycogen 



Cane Sugar (or Sucrose) 
Group- 

Ci2 Ho2 O,, 

Cane Sugar (Sucrose) 
Malt Sugar (Maltose) 
Milk Sugar (Lactose) 



G rape Suga r i or G lucose ) 
Group. 

Grape Sugar 

(Dextrose) 

Fruit Sugar (Levulose) 



That the second and third groups bear a definite 




Corn Starch. Rice Starch. 

(From Hygiene, by Parks.) 

chemical relation to the first may be seen by a com- 
parison of their formulae. 

Starch is the most important of the carbohydrates 
from the standpoint of food. It is familiar to us all 
as the fine, white, glistening powder of "corn starch" 
and of laundry starch. We may easily, by washing it, 
obtain it also from grated potatoes and from flour. 
Starch is found only in the vegetable kingdom, and 
is manufactured by green plants and stored in differ- 
ent parts of the plant in the form of tiny grains lying 
within the plant cells. 



starch 



46 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



structure 
of Starch 



Starch Grains 



The structure of these grains has been very hard 
to determine because of their minuteness. It was 

thought for a long time that 
they were composed of a cellu- 
lose envelope enclosing the true 
starch, and that by the action 
of water and heat these grains 
swelled and the cellulose en- 
velope burst. 

A later theory was that the 
starch grain was built up in 
alternate layers of starch cellu- 
lose and starch granulose. 

The late work of a German 
botanist, Meyer, seems to show 
that the grains are in the form 
of sphero-crystals, each made 
up of many tiny particles. These 
radiate from a center, and at the same time are arranged 
in concentric layers. The particles are of two kinds 
called by Meyer alpha-amylose and beta-amylose. 
These may be compared to the starch cellulose and 
starch granulose of the older theory. Upon the appli- 
cation of heat and moisture the beta-amylose swells 
and becomes gelatinous, forming a solution. The 
alpha-amylose is affected only by a temperature much 
above the boiling point, or by long continued heating. 
The starch grains in different plants differ much 
in form, size and general appearance, as shown in the 




Bean Starch. 



FOOD PRINCIPLES 



A7 



illustrations. The relation of the difference in struc- 
ture to digestibility is not well determined. 

Dextrin is a substance having the same general 
composition as starch, but unlike it in some of its 
properties. It is chiefly important to us in that it is 
an intermediate product of the change of starch into 
sugar. 

Glycogen is the form in which carbohydrate is 
stored in the body until it is needed for use. It is 



Dextrin 




Diagram Representing the Supposed Structure of a Sphero-Crystal of 

Starch, Showing Radial and Concentric Arrangement. 

From A. Meyer. 



found chiefly in the liver and is sometimes called ani- 
mal starch. 

Cellulose is so slightly digested that we do not put 
it in the list of human foods, yet it is important from 
two standpoints. First, it gives the necessary bulk 
to food ; and second, it so encloses the nutrients in 
vegetables and fruits that it must be definitely con- 
sidered in cookery. 



Cellulose 



48 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Composition 



Water and 

Mineral 

Matter 



Nutrient 
Ratio 



Allied to the gums are the pectose and pectin that 
are concerned in the making of jelly from fruit juice. 
The gelatinous substance obtained from Irish moss 
also belongs in this class. The sugars will be dis- 
cussed imder the special foods. 

FATS 

The fats, like the carbohydrates, are composed of 
carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, but with these elements 
in very different proportions from that in which they 
exist in the carbohydrates. There is a much larger 
proportion of carbon with less oxygen than in starcli 
and sugar, and this accounts for the readiness with 
which they burn and the intense heat that we get from 
them. They are of both animal and vegetable origin. 
Those which are liquid at ordinary temperature we 
often speak of as oils. 

In discussing the value of a food we commonly con- 
sider only the organic principles. Although water is 
absolutely necessary it is so easily supplied and so 
abundant that we do not have to consider whether or 
not it is present in our food as we purchase it. This 
is not true of mineral matter to so great an extent, but 
it is largely so, except in the case of growing children. 
The mineral matter will, as a rule, take care of itself if 
we provide the other substances needed. 

By food value or nutritive value we ordinarily mean 
the amount of organic nutrients present in the food. 
In determining the importance of any particular food, 
we consider not only the total amount of the nutrients 



FOOD PRINCIPLES 49 

present, but the relation that the proteid bears to the 
other nutrients. This is often called the nutrient ratio. 
The nutrient ratio of potatoes, for example, containing 
two per cent of proteid and eighteen of starch, is i 
to 9. In reckoning this ratio, fat is changed into its 
starch equivalent, that is, one part of fat is considered 
equal to two and a quarter of starch. 

The following classification of the food principles classification 
may help to fix in the mind their relationship. 

Nutritive Ingredients (or Nutrients) of Food 

r I Protelds, e.g.. albumin, casein, gluten, etc. 

1 Nitrogenous •< Gelatinoids, e.g., gelatine, etc. 

Organic. ■{ I Extractives. 

I Non-nitrogeneous-j gj^^o^yd^'^tes, e.g., sugar, starch. 

T„_„„-„^^ J Mineral matters. 
Inorganic. -I ^^^^^ 



of Foods 



Use of Food Principles in the Body 

Proteid.. ..Forms tissue 

eg , white (albumen) V 

of eggs, cvird (casein) J All serve as 

of milk, lean meat, / fuel to yield 

gluten of wheat, etc. V energy in the 

Fats Are used or stored as fat / forms of heat 

e.g., fat of meat, but- y and muscu* 

ter, olive oil, oils of 1 lar power 

corn and wheat, etc. j 

Carbohydrates. Are used or transformed into fat. 

e.g., siiffar. starch. etc. 

Mineral matters(ash) . . Share in forming bone, assist in digestion, etc 
e.g.. phosphates of 
lime, potash, soda, 
etc. 



Amount 

of Food 

Required 



Food for 

Different 

Ages 



DIETAEY STANDARDS 

In addition to a knowledge of food constituents, 
of the proportion of which these exist in our food, and 
of the use of food in the body, we need to know the 
amount of food necessary to supply our daily needs 
under different conditions. Many factors will influ- 
ence not only the total amount of food that we need, 
but also the proportions in which we shall use the pro- 
teids, the carbohydrates and the fats. The flesh weight 
of the body is important in deciding the amount of 
proteid (that is, the muscle weight, not the total 
weight of the body) since the greater the flesh weight 
the greater the nitrogenous waste. The shape of the 
person, whether tall or thin, or short and plump, in- 
fluences the amount of fuel food required, since the 
amount of surface exposed affects the loss of heat. 
The degree of activity has an important influence upon 
the amount of all the food principles. Variations in 
climate to a certain extent affect the amount of heat 
to be produced in the body, and occupation also has 
an important influence. 

The age of the individual is, within certain limits, 
one of the greatest factors. The growing child needs 
a large amount of building material, while the old 
person needs distinctly to lessen the tissue building 
foods. The accompanying diagram gives an idea of 
the way in which these proportions vary with different 
ages. It will be seen that the proportion of proteid is 
much greater in comparison with other food materials 

60 



DIETARY STANDARDS 



51 



in the case of the child than of the aduh. The total 
amount of food is also greater in proportion to body 
weight in the child than in the adult. Although not 
shown in the table, mineral salts are needed in large 
proportion in the child's diet, while they may well be 
cut down in the diet of the old. The amount of food 
needed increases rapidly from birth to about four 



Yaars of Age 



St 56 «0 <« it Ta 7«- 89 



6 40 
5 00 

'4tO 
! 4 > 

SB 

I 

94 
t 60 

aac 

I 80 

« 40 





























































































/ 


^ 






































/ 




'■^ 


5s^ 
































J 


' 














s.'^i"-. 






















/ 




















^'L'- 


















i 


r 


















1 


■V, 


K^ 
















/ 


























"^ 


^. 












/ 






























N 








/ 


































N 






/ 




































/ 








t^ 
































/ 






,0^ 


X 


"^ 










_Pfo[ 


nat 


^ 
















/ 




— ^ 






-— n 










■^^ 


' 1 




■ 




.^^ 






^ 




— —^ 






















■* 




— — 




— 




•**. 






































— i 



9 80 
540 

5 00* 
4 6 

4 t C> 

a • • 

5 4 J 
soej 
J.o; 

9 3 o ro 



6 O 
Z 



Years of Age. 



M U Sa 56 40 4« 48 i» 9t> 60 64 68 7t 76 80 



Diagram Showing the Varying Amounts of Food Principles Required 
at Different Ages. 

years of age, very slowly from four to about ten, with 
a rapid increase from this time to twenty-four. From 
ten to twenty-four the carbohydrates should increase 
in amount more rapidly than the other food principles. 
To put in terms of the nutrient ratio the difference 
between the diet of the child and that of the adult — 
in the adult diet the ratio is about 1 15.3 ; in the diet of 
the child, i :4.3. 



Nutrient 
Ratio 



52 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



standard 
Dietaries 



Experimental 
Dietaries 



These statements are of course true only approxi- 
mately, yet one familiar with children must recognize 
in them a fair generalization from the facts. 

The proportions of the different food principles 
needed daily constitute the dietary, and dietary stand- 
ards have been made up taking into account as far as 
possible these different conditions. These dietaries 
are sometimes called experimental, and sometimes sta- 
tistical, according to the method used in formulating 
them. An experimental dietary is the result of care- 
ful observations of the effect of different proportions 
of food nutrients upon an individual under determined 
conditions. The statistical dietary is the outcome of 
the study of the actual ration of large numbers of peo- 
ple. Each of these has its drawbacks. In the first 
case it is difficult to decide how far the result is due 
to individual idiosyncrasy, and a large number of ex- 
periments must be tried before the personal factor 
can be eliminated. In the second case it is hard to 
determine whether some variation in the diet might not 
produce better results. 

An example of the first method of formulating die- 
taries is that of Professor Atwater's respiration calori- 
meter, sometimes called ''the man in a box," described 
in one of the government pamphlets. A small room 
was constructed in the laboratory with flues arranged 
to bring in fresh air and to carry off the products of 
respiration. Each of these flues was arranged so that 
the temperature and composition of the air entering 



DIETARY STANDARDS 53 

and going out might be determined. A man lived in 
this room for several days at a time, his food being 
given to him by means of slides in a double wall. A 
sample of each food given was analyzed and a determi- 
nation of the number of calories yielded by it made by 
means of the bomb calorimeter. All food taken was 
carefully weighed, and the excreta of the body were 
analyzed so that an accurate estimate could be made 
of the total income and outgo of the body. See illus- 
tration on page 32. 

Many statistical dietaries have been taken, some of statistical 
the most valuable being those of the German army. 
Experiments have been made there as to the effect of 
the addition of certain articles of food to the diet, and 
the conclusions have been of much value. Similar 
dietary studies have been made at many schools and 
universities. 

From a careful comparison of dietaries made up 
in these two ways certain standards have been deter- 
mined upon. The American standards vary in some 
important points, notably in the amount of fat used, 
from those of Europe. Some of these dietaries are 
given here. 



54 



Chittenden's 
Experiments 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 
Standard Dietaries 



Voit 


o ce 
^0 


a 

ce u 


u 

'a 

-5 M 
OC5 


o ^ 
^0 


o 

Q 


Woman at moderate work (German) 


92 
118 
145 

119 
156 
185 

80 
100 
125 
150 


44 

56 
100 

51 
71 

71 

80 
100 
125 
150 


400 
500 
450 

531 

568 
568 

300 
360 
450 
500 


536 
674 
095 

701 

795 
824 

460 
560 
700 
800 


2425 


Man at moderate work (German) 


3055 


Man at hard work (German) 


3370 


Playfair, 

Man with moderate exercise (English) 

Active laborer (English) 


3140 
3630 


Hard- worked laborer (English) 


3750 


Atwater. 

Woman with light Exercise (American) 

Man with light exercise (American) 

Man at moderate work (American) 


2300 
3815 
3520 


Man at hard work (American) 


4060 



There are twenty-eight and thirty-four hundredths 
grams (28.34) in one ounce. A man at moderate 
work requires, therefore, according to the American 
standard, about four and one-half ounces of proteid, 
four and one-half ounces of fat, and nearly a pound 
of carbohydrate daily. 

The dietary standards that we have been considering 
are those that have been accepted generally since work 
of this kind was first begun. Some late experiments 
conducted at Yale University by Professor Chittenden 
and others, indicate that a much smaller amount of 
food, especially of proteid, may better serve the pur- 
poses of the body, than the larger amounts indicated 
in these standards. The experiments were carried out 
upon men representing three different classes of in- 
dividuals. The first class was composed chiefly of 



DIETARY STANDARDS 



55 



professors and instructors. The second represented 
the moderate worker. The third class were trained 
athletes. The experiments covered a period of five 
months, and the proteid taken daily varied from about 
thirty-five to fifty grams per day, while the total num- 
ber of calories yielded was from twenty-five to twenty- 
eight hundred a day. The general conclusion drawn 
from these experiments is that under ordinary condi- 
tions of life, with an ordinary amount of work, bodily 
health and vigor are maintained as well, if not better, 
on a minimum proteid diet than on the amount given 
in the generally accepted standards. 

Some careful experiments and analyses recently 
made by the physiological chemist, Dr. Otto Folin, at 
the McLean Hospital, Waverly, Mass., indicate that 
about twenty grams of proteid represents the actual 
daily proteid wastes of an average sized man under 
ordinary conditions. That is, only about three-fourths 
of an ounce of proteid material is necessary per day in 
an adult to rebuild the nitrogenous tissue of the body 
that wears away through use.* 

Such radical differences from standards found by 
long experience to give good results in health and 
strength must be considered very carefully before be- 
ing accepted. But in this as in many other ways, we 
may be obliged to revolutionize our ideas of food. 

We must not fail to distinguish between the amount 
of proteid required and the amount of food containing 
proteid. If, for example, meat be supplied containing 

*See Report of the Lake Placid Conference on Home Economics, 1905, 
and American Journal of Physiology, March, 1905. 



Dr. Folin's 
Experiments 



Amount 
of Food 
to Furnish 
Required 
Proteid 



56 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Example for 
Practice 



Calculations 



Balanced 
Bation 



i8 per cent of proteid (a fair average), a little more 
than a pound and a half of the meat will be required 
to furnish the four and a half ounces of proteid. 
Bread containing" 9 per cent of proteid would be re- 
quired to the amount of three pounds. Nearly two 
pounds and a quarter of eggs, with 13.1 per cent of 
proteid, or about eighteen eggs, would be necessary 
to supply four and a half ounces of pure proteid. 

Taking the percentage composition from the accom- 
panying table, calculate the amount of milk that would 
be required daily to furnish four and a half ounces 
proteid. How much potato would be required ? How 
much corn meal? 

Calculations: From the table, milk is found to con- 
tain 3.3% of proteid or i oz. contains .033 oz. protein. 
To furnish 4.5 ozs. would require 

4-5 -^ -033 = 136+ 
As a pound contains 16 ozs., 136 oz.=8^ lbs. A pint 
of milk weighs about i lb., so about 4j4 quarts would 
be required to provide 4.5 ozs. of proteid. 
Potatoes as purchased contain 1.8% proteid. 
4.5 ^ .018 = 250 
250 oz. = 15 lbs. (aprox.) 
A bushel of potatoes weighs about 60 lbs., conse- 
quently about one peck of potatoes would be required. 
Corn meal contains 8.9% proteid and by the same 
calculations 3 lbs. 2 ozs. will be found to contain 
4.5 ozs. of proteid. 

It is by no means a matter of indifference whether 
the proteid be derived from any one of these food 



DIETARY STANDARDS 57 

materials, or from a mixture of different ones. The 
other food ingredients present must be taken into 
account. For example, the three pounds of bread 

Composition of the Edible Portion of Some Common Foods 






a) 
u 
u 

< 


<v 
u 

V 
*^ 


Proteid, per cent. 


0) 

u 


u a 

-73 <U 

A U 
« 
^ Pi 

u 

c3 




u 

0) 

p. 

'E 


Q 


Milk 


0.7 
3.0 
3.8 
1.0 
1.0 
1.1 
1.0 
1.0 
19.0 
0.9 
1.1 
0.3 
0.5 


87.0 
11.0 
34.0 
73.7 
61.3 
(x> 5 
63.2 
63.7 
55.0 
82 5 
88.3 
84.6 
75.3 


3 3 

1.0 

25.9 

13 4 

19.0 

20.3 

18.7 

19,3 

27 3 

16.7 

6.0 

0.4 

1.3 


4.0 

85.0 

33 7 

10.5 

19.1 

13.6 

17.5 

16.3 

0.3 

0.3 

1.3 

0.5 

0.6 


5.0 
"2.4" 

"3.3" 

13.0 

21 
100.0 

75.1 

71.9 

53.1 

71.9 

74.1 

75.4 

79.0 

18.4 

59.6 

62.0 
2.9 

17.3 

76.1 

30.3 


325 


Butter 


3,605 


Cheese 


1,950 


Eggs 


720 


Beef (sirloin) 


1,155 


Beef (round) . . 


950 


Mutton (leg) 

Fowl 


1.085 
1.045 


Cod (boneless salt) 

Cod (fresh) 


490 
325 


Oysters 


230 


ApDles ; . . . 


290 


Bananas 

Sugar. 


460 
1,857 


Flour (white) 


6.5 
1.0 
1.1 
1.8 
1.3 
1.0 
0.4 
1.0 
3.5 
2.9 
0.9 
2.0 
2.3 
2.2 


i2.6 
11.4 
35.3 

6.8 
10.3 
12 5 
12.3 
78.0 
12.6 

9.5 
94.7 

4.8 
14.6 

5.9 


11 4 

13.8 

9.2 

10.7 

13.4 

9.2 

7.8 

2.2 

22.5 

21.6 

1.2 

21.0 

2.6 

12.9 


i.6 

1.9 
1.3 
8.8 
0.9 
1.9 
0.3 
0.1 
1.8 
1.0 
0.3 

54.9 
3.3 

48.7 


1.650 


Flour (entire wheat) 

Bread 


1,675 
1,215 


Crackers 


1,905 


Macaroni 


1,665 


Corn meal ..... 


1,655 


Rice 


1,630 


Potatoes 

Dried Beans 

Dried Peas . 


385 
1,605 
1,6.55 


Lettuce 


90 


Almonds 


3,030 


Raisins 

Chocolate. 


1,605 
2,860 







(See pages 36 and 37 for charts giving graphic representa- 
tion of these foods.) 

would furnish also more than a pound and a half of 
carbohydrates, a great excess of the required 
amount. The meat would vary in fat, but estimating 



58 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

the per cent as twenty, the pound and a half would 
yield four and eight-tenths ounces, more than would 
be required for the day. The quantities used of these 
different foods must then be so adjusted that the nu- 
trients will be in approximately the right proportion. 
The deciding upon these different quantities from the 
percentage composition of the food is the essential 
point in calculating dietaries. 
'u°se*^of The question will probably come to each one — of 

le anes ^^^ much practical use for the everyday housekeeper 
is this study of dietaries. In the first place, it would 
mean the expenditure of a great deal of time if one 
should undertake to determine each day's rations in 
this way. In the next place, it is impossible to know 
the actual composition of the food that we eat, except 
in a few cases. We may be fairly sure of the com- 
position of the Qgg, but when meat varies in proteid 
from 12 per cent to 22 per cent as it does according 
to the Atwater analyses, how are we to determine 
the composition of the particular cut that we are using 
to-day? Moreover, even if our meal were prepared 
so that the exact proportions of nutrients were fur- 
nished, it is quite possible that one member of the 
family might eat too large a proportion of the pro- 
teids and another too much of the carbohydrates. 

Another element of uncertainty lies in the difference 
in composition between cooked and uncooked food. 
Rice, for example, according to the tables, contains 
79 per cent of carbohydrate and 7.8 per cent of pro- 



DIETARY STANDARDS 59 

teid. But if you will weigh a cup of rice before it 
is cooked, and the same rice after it is cooked, you will 
find that it has gained perhaps four times its original 
weight. In other words, a quarter of a pound of 
cooked rice will only furnish about a fourth as much 
nutrient as a quarter of a pound of rice without the 
added water. Often we can allow for this difference 
in the calculation of our dietary ; but sometimes we 
know too little about the changes which take place 
in cooking to do this. Finally, even if we know 
exactly what we eat we do not know what we assimi- 
late. Is there, then, any use in the dietary standard? 

In two ways it is of great service. In the first place, variation 
it is a standard by which we may test our diet if we ItaJdard 
extend our experiment over a sufficiently long period. 
At the beginning of a month let us take account of 
stock, estimate the amount of food materials on hand, 
and then keep careful account for a month of all food 
brought into the house ; at the end of the month we 
will again estimate what we have on hand and in this 
way ascertain the amount of raw material used. 
Table IV, with the details which follow, gives an 
example of a carefully calculated dietary. The com- 
position of the various foods was taken from Bulletin 
No. 28 of the office of Experiment Stations, U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture.* If, on calculating the food 
value of the different materials, we find that for the 

* "The Chemical Composition of American Food Materials" which 
may be obtained by sending five cents t«. com to the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture, Office of Experiment Stations, Washington, D. C. 



6o FOOD AND DIETETICS 

number of persons served we have a distinct varia- 
tion from the standard diet, we can legitimately con- 
clude that there is something wrong. If, for ex- 
ample, we find that the amount of proteid calculated in 
our food materials is twice as much as that supposed 
to be required, we shall conclude that either our fami- 
lies must be using a much larger amount of proteid 
than would be conducive to the best health, or there 
must be much unnecessary waste, and in either case, 
an investigation would be needed. 
Errors in Another way in which the dietary standard is of 

Dietaries ^ ... . . 

especial service, is in enabling us to judge what error 
in diet is responsible for some particular weakness or 
peculiarity in any member of the family. A girl of 
fourteen may be unusually thin or may appear lan- 
guid and tired, and everything point to improper feed- 
ing as the cause. The first thing to do in this case 
would be to see whether the child's diet were deficient 
in any one of the three nutrients, and if so bring the diet 
up to the standard. In dealing with abnormal condi- 
tions, then, or with large masses of people, or with 
diet over an extended length of time, the dietary 
standards may be applied to great advantage. It is 
not necessary to apply it strictly to each individual 
at each meal. 

The calculation of a few dietaries is very useful 
in giving us a definite idea of the general composi- 
tion of foods, and so making it easier to estimate the 
amount of different nutrients which we are providing 



DIETARY STANDARDS 6i 

at ordinary meals, without the tediousness of reckon- 
ing each meal in detail. 

In such calculations the following factors are used 
to reduce the results to the standard of one man at 
moderate work. 



Factors used by the TJ. S. Department of Agriculture in Calculating 
Meals Consumed in Dietary Studies. 

Man at hard muscular work requires 1.2 the food of a man at moderately Factors 
active muscular work. 

Man with light muscular work and and boy 1.5-16 years old require 0.9 
the food of a man at moderately active muscular work. 

Man at sedentary occupation, woman at moderately active work, boy 
13-14, and girl 15-16 years old require 0.8 the food of a man at moderate- 
ly active muscular work. 

Woman at light work, boy 12, and girl 13-14 years old require 0.7 the food 
of a man at moderately active muscular work. 

Boy 10-11 and girl 10-12 years old require 0.6 the food of a man at moder- 
ately active muscular work. 

Child 6-9 years old requires 0.5 the food of a man at moderately active 
muscular work. 

Child 2-5 years old requires 0.4 the foM of a man at moderately active 
mitscular work. 

Child under 2 years old requires 0.3 the food of a man at moderately 
active muscular work. 



In making dietary studies all food used should be 
weighed, but the following data may be of use for 
approximate home calculation : 

I meastiring cup^^ pint. 
i6 tablespoons=i cup. 
3 teaspoons^ I tablespoon. 
A cup of water weighs about 8.3 oz., of milk 8.6 oz., of 
cream 8.4 oz., of butter 8.4 oz., of lard 7.5 oz., of sugar 8 oz., 
and a tablespoonful of the foregoing weighs about 0.5 oz. A 
cup of meal weighs 5 oz., of sifted flour 4 oz., of oatmeal 2.7 
oz., of cream of wheat 6 oz. A cubic inch of meat or butter 
weighs about 0.5 oz. An Q.^g without shell weighs 1.6 oz. A 
slice of bread lA in. thick weighs i oz., a heaping teaspoonful 
of sugar 0.4 oz. 



Home 
Studies 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 

PART I 



1. What to-day is included in the food problem? 

2. What factors affect the proportion of the income 

spent for food? 

3. At current prices in your locality, give a list of 

foods you would provide for a day's ration at 
15 cents per person for raw food material. At 
25 cents. At 40 cents. 

4. To what extent can waste in food be eliminated? 

5. How do animal and vegetable foods compare in 

cost? 

6. Which would be the cheaper source of proteid, 

beefsteak at 22 cents per pound, milk at 7 cents 
per quart, bread at 5 cents per pound, corn 
meal at 3 cents per pound? Give details of 
calculations. 

7. With what two forms of energy are we chiefly 

concerned? What is meant by potential 
energy? 

8. What is meant by calorie? By the mechanical 

equivalent of heat? 

9. How does the amount of heat produced by pro- 

teid compare with that obtainable from an 
equal amount of starch? With that from an 
equal amount of fat? 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 

10. What relation has digestibility to food value? 

11. What are the five food principles? Give their 

functions. W'hich of the food principles is 
most important? 

12. What is meant by proteid ? Name the most com- 

mon representatives of the class found in food. 

13. If possible, perform the experiments in separat- 

ing some of the proteids as described and 
report. 

14. How does gelatine dififer from the true proteids? 

How may it be obtained? 

15. W'hat is the most important carbohydrate from 

the standpoint of food? Wliat is its source? 

16. How do fats differ from carbohydrates? 

17. What is meant by food value? By nutrient ratio? 

18. How are dietary standards determined? 

19. What factors affect the amount and proportion 

of food needed? 

20. Of what practical value to the housekeeper are 

dietary standards? 

21. Calculate the. amount of proteid, carbohydrate, 

and fat in your own diet for one day as nearly 
as you can. Give details of calculation. 

22. What questions have come to you in the study 

of this lesson? 
Note. Question 21 is optional. After completing the test 
sign your full name. 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



PART II 



SPECIAL FOOD STUFFS 

In the selection of foods one of the questions that 
will come up will be that of the relative value of ani- 
mal and vegetable foods. An increasing- number of 
people are confining their diet largely, if not exclu- 
sively, to vegetable products, while others add to these 
such animal substances as do not imply the taking 
of life, such as milk and eggs. Is a mixed diet essential 
for health? Or may we at will choose exclusively 
from the animal or the vegetable kingdom? 

Certain broad distinctions between animal and vege- 
table food will immediately present themselves. 
Speaking generally, animal foods are richer in nitrog- 
enous matter, while vegetable foods are the chief 
source of carbohydrates. This becomes much more 
evident if we compare the two in a dry condition. 
Milk, for instance, makes a poor showing in proteid 
as compared with dried peas and lentils, or even with 
rice. But if we take the total solids of the milk as a 
basis of comparison, eliminating the 87 per cent of 
water, the case is quite otherwise. This is the fair 
method, for the dried peas and rice absorb many times 
their weight of water in the process of cooking, so 
that the analysis of the raw material is quijte dififerent 
from that of the cooked food. 



Animal 
and 

Vegetable 
Food Stuffs 



Distinction 



64 



FOOD AXD DIETETICS 



Caiboliydrates 



Comparative 
Cost 



Hutchison gives the following composition of a few 
typical dried foods : 

One hundred parts of dried lean beef contain 8g parts of 
proteid. 

One hundred parts of dried fat beef contain 51 parts of 
proteid. 

One hundred parts of dried pea flour contain 27 parts of 
proteid. 

One hundred parts of dried wheat contain 16 parts of 
proteid. 

One hundred parts of dried rice contain 7 parts of proteid. 

To this we may add : 

One hundred parts of dried milk contain 25 parts of 
proteid. 

On the other hand we find our carbohydrates almost 
wholly in the vegetable kingdom. Milk is the only 
important exception to this. In milk, dried, we find 
38 parts of carbohydrate to 100 of the total solids. 

Another difference between animal and vegetable 
food is found in their comparative cost. Animal food as 
a rule is much more expensive than vegetable. This 
is not difficult to understand when we remember that 
our animal food has been put through a further pro- 
cess of manufacture than the vegetable food. If the 
grain raised, instead of going directly to man as food, 
is used to feed cattle, and these in turn are slaughtered 
to furnish nourishment for human beings, the process 
necessarily adds to the cost of the food. This pro- 
cess, as well as the fact that plants are in general 
builders of material, while animals break dozen the 
complex compounds built up by the vegetables, is 
graphically shown by the accompanying diagram. 



SPECIAL FOODS 



The same intermediate process which adds to the 
cost of food increases also its digestibihty, though the 
less complete absorption by the system of vegetable 



■nigestibility 




Animal ^/fg 



Cycle of Life 



> 



s 



^n1!',^°^P»^^^''ve^^t'°'^''^^^ 




than of animal proteid seems to lie in the fact that in 
the plant the proteid is enclosed within cellulose walls 
and ordinary processes of cooking do not always free 
it, rather than in any difference in the proteids them- 
selves. 

In deciding from which kingdom we shall choose 



66 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Source of 
Proteid 



Vegetarian 
Diet 



Structure 



our diet, we consider almost wholly the proteid. As 
we have seen, carbohydrates must necessarily be ob- 
tained chiefly from vegetable sources, and it seems 
to be a matter of indifference whether the fat of the 
diet is of animal or vegetable origin. With the addi- 
tion of milk, butter, cheese, and eggs, it is not diffi- 
cult with care to provide a satisfactory dietary without 
the use of meat. 

The case is different when vegetables form the only 
source of food supplies. Because of the great excess 
of carbohydrates and the presence of indigestible mat- 
ter in the form of cellulose, a great bulk of food must 
be taken in order to get the necessary proteid. As a 
matter of fact, nearly all purely vegetarian diets are 
deficient in proteid. The extra cost of the animal pro- 
teid is justified by its availability since it may be ob- 
tained without an excess of other substances and since 
it is easily assimilated. 

MEAT 

In the ordinary famil^^ the greater part of the pro- 
teid diet is probably furnished by meat, so that a 
knowledge of the composition and nutritive value of 
this article of food is important. The structure of the 
meat may be best seen if one with a sharp knife scrapes 
a small piece of meat, thus separating the muscle fibre 
from the white connective tissue. Under the micro- 
scope the muscle fibre is seen to consist of bundles of 
smaller fibres held together by delicate connective tis- 
sue in which fat cells are imbedded. These muscle 



MEAT 



67 



fibres vary in length in different kinds of meat, and 
the length of fibre probably plays some part in the 
digestibility of the meat — the short fibre meats being 
the more digestible. 

The toughness or tenderness of meat 
depends partly upon the muscle fibres 
and partly upon the connective tissue, 
though as a rule the same conditions 
that have made the connective tissue 
tough and strong will have had a sim- 
ilar though less effect upon the muscle 
fibre. In general the muscles that are 
most used or most exposed to v^Ind 
and weather will be both tougher and 
richer in flavor than those not so ex- 
posed. The young animal will, of 
course, have more delicate tissues and 
less toughened fibres than the older or 
harder worked animal. 

The composition of different pieces of 
meat, even from the same animal, differs greatly, the 
proteid of beef, for instance, varying all the way from 
twelve per cent to twenty-one, according to the cut of 
meat and to the feeding of the animal from which it 
is obtained. 

The proteids of meat include a number of different 
substances, the chief of which are fibrin, myosin and 
albumin. After the animal is killed the myosin coagu- 




FIBRE OF 
MEAT. 

a Fibre 
b Fat 

c Connecting 
tissue 



Composition 



Proteids 
of Meat 



68 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Albumen 



Flavor 



Fat of 
Heat 



lates, thus causing the hardening of the muscle, known 
as rigor mortis. In this condition the meat is very 
tough, and the hanging of meat is practiced in order 
to give time for th^ disappearance of this rigor by the 
re-sokition of the myosin. 

The presence of albumin in the meat can be easily 
shown by soaking a small portion of the meat in water 
for a few minutes, and then heating this water. The 
albumin dissolves in the water and coagulates upon 
heating just as white of Qgg would do under similar 
conditions. The scum that forms in the water when 
a piece of meat is boiled, is largely this same albumin. 
Beside the true proteids, gelatine may be obtained 
from meat in varying quantities. The connective tis- 
sue upon boiling becom.es gelatine, and it is due to 
this as well as to the gelatine obtained from the bones 
that water in which meat has been cooked so often 
sets into a jelly. The color of meat is due largely to 
the same substance that gives the color to blogd, 
haemoglobin. Its flavor depends chiefly upon the 
nitrogenous substances called extractives, though the 
characteristic taste of pork and mutton is caused partly 
by the fats they contain. These extractives have no 
real food value, but act as stimulants. 

The fat in meat varies even more in amount than the 
proteid; beef, as purchased, containing from five and 
eight-tenths per cent to more than forty per cent. 

Even in meat that appears lean much fat is present 
lying between the muscle fibres. This may be seen 



MEAT 



69 



upon heating the meat in water, when globules of fat 
appear from even the leanest meat. The solidity of 
the fat is due chiefly to the stearin that is present. 

The amount of water in meat varies very much. 
A lean cut of beef may have as much as seventy-five 
per cent of water, while a fat piece might not conta'in 
more than fifty per cent. In general the more fat the 
less water there is present, so that in buying it is 
economy to select meat that is moderately fat. 

From the standpoint of digestibility, meat is an ex- 
cellent food. It is among the most easily digested of 
the proteid foods. As a rule raw meat is more digesti- 
ble than cooked, and rarely cooked meat more digesti- 
ble than that which is well done. The cooking of 
meat has its value not in adding to the digestibility 
but in developing flavor, so that the meat becomes 
more palatable ; and in rendering it more safe, by de- 
stroying certain parasites that are sometimes present 
in raw meat, particularly in pork, and bacteria that 
under certain circumstances may cause dangerous de- 
composition. 

There is much difference in the digestibility of dif- 
ferent meats. Pork is ranked among the less- digestible 
meats, since it requires a longer time for complete 
digestion than do other varieties. This is probably 
due to the large amount of fat closely combined with 
the muscle fibres. Bacon fat, on the other hand, from 
its different form, is generally found to be easily di- 
gested. 



Water 



Factors in 
Digestibility 



70 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Effects of 
Cooking 



Losses in 
Boiling 



Mutton and beef stand equally well in this respect. 
As has been suggested before, short fibred meats are 
in general more easily digested than long fibred ones, 
yet veal is an exception to this. Hutchison explains 
this by suggesting that the fibres of veal easily elude 
the teeth on mastication, and that the comparatively in- 
sipid character of the veal fails to excite a free flow 
of gastric juice. It would seem that tl:is absence of 
extractives would be the more important factor. 

How far the cooking of meat alters its chemical 
composition is not wholly determined. Some inter- 
esting experiments at the University of Illinois l:ave 
taught us much about the losses that take place in 
the cooking. It is shown that in whatever way meat 
is cooked, there is much loss of weight, amounting 
either in boiling or in roasting to a fourth or even 
a third of the original weight. This loss is partially 
proteid and fat, but consists still more largely of water. 
The loss of water appears to be caused partly, at 
least, by the hardening and consequent contraction 
of the muscle fibre, the water being mechanically 
forced out. 

An interesting experiment has been tried in regard 
to the effect of salt in preventing or accelerating the 
losses in meat. A salt solution was prepared, having 
the same density as that of the juices of the meat, and 
a piece of meat was boiled in this. It was found that 
a very small amount of the juices of the meat were lost 
in the water and practically none of the salt penetrated 



MEAT 



71 



into the interior of the meat. The conclusion drawn 
was that very Httle interchange of the water and the 
meat juices could take place unless the medium in 
which the meat was cooked was either less or more 
dense than the meat juices themselves. 

Meat does not form a cheap source of proteid food, 
but the cost can be lessened very much by care in 
selecting the cheaper cuts. As a rule these cheaper 
parts need longer cooking than the more expensive 
tender cuts, and, as has been suggested before, the 
fuel must be taken into account in estimating their 
cost. Where the cheapness of the meat is not counter- 
balanced by the additional expense of the fuel a great 
variety and a satisfactory diet may be obtained with 
only the occasional use of the more expensive portions. 
As has been said, the nutritive value of the cheaper 
parts is as great as that of the more tender portions. 

The nutritive value of meat soups, broths and ex- 
tracts has been much discussed. Often in estimating 
this value too little allowance has been made for the 
method used in preparation. A clear soup contains a 
very small amount of real food. Its value lies in the 
extractives that give it flavor, and in the small amount 
of gelatin that it contains, and in its power to stimu- 
late the flow of the gastric juices, and so whet the 
appetite rather than satisfy it. The meat from which 
such a soup has been made still contains a large por- 
tion of its nutritive value, and although because of its 
lack of flavor it cannot be used as it is, it may be 



Cost of 
Meat 



Soups 

and 

Broths 



Extractives 



y2 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Extracts 
of Meat 



Beef 
Juice 



. Nutritive 

Value and 

Digestibility 



made palatable and attractive by the addition of spice 
or seasoning, or by its combination with a small por- 
tion of fresh meat. Unless large quantities of soup 
are made, it ought to be possible, in the ordinar}^ 
household, to utilize the soup meat in some way. 

The commercial extracts of meat are similar to 
clear soup in that they contain practically nothing but 
the extractives. A more nutritious broth may be 
made if the meat, cut in small pieces, is allowed to 
soak for some time in cold water and then is heated 
to a low temperature, not above i8o degrees Fahren- 
heit, and kept at this point for some hours.* Toward 
the end of the process the broth may be brought to the 
boiling point for a few minutes in order to dissolve all 
the gelatin possible. The brown flecks of albumin 
that form must be served in the broth and not be 
strained out. Even made in this way, the value of 
the broth is small compared with that of meat, but it 
is much greater than that of the clear soup. 

Raw beef juice is valuable as a food. If the beef 
be cut small, and thoroughly pressed, a much larger 
amount of proteid is obtained than by any other treat- 
ment. The round of beef, very slightly broiled and 
pressed, may yield as much as seven per cent of pro- 
teid and four per cent of extractives. 

FISH 

One of the most natural substitutes for meat is 
fish. Its nutritive value is much like that of meat, al- 
though it contains a somewhat smaller proportion of 



FISH 73 

proteid. It also has the advantage of being as a rule 
easily digested, and so is particularly adapted to the 
needs of a person of sedentary habits. It is probably 
this fact that has given rise to the false idea that fish 
is a particularly good brain food. As a matter of 
fact, it is no more a brain food than meat or eggs or 
any other proteid food. The cost of fish is generally 
less than that of meat, so that it furnishes a cheap 
source of the necessary proteid. The value of fish 
depends, however, upon nearness to the source of sup- 
ply much more than does that of meat, since fish de- 
teriorates rapidly upon keeping. 

For food purposes we may divide fish into white classification 
and fat fish ; or we may take Hutchison's classification 
of, (i) fish with more than five per cent of fat, 
such as eels, salmon and herring; (2) fish with from 
two to five per cent of fat, as halibut and mackerel ; 
and (3) fish with less than two per cent, such as cod 
and haddock. Fish with a small amount of fat is 
more easily digested than the more oily variety. Be- 
side the proteid and fat in the fish, we obtain a certain 
amount of gelatine. The sturgeon furnishes isin- 
glass, a very pure variety of this substance. 

In estimating the cost of fish, allowance must be cost 
made for the large amount of waste so that the price 
per pound tells by no means the whole story of its 
value from an economic standpoint. The follow- 
ing analysis by Miss Williams shows the waste in 



of Fish 



Variety 
in Diet 



Shell 
Fish 



74 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

cooked fish as served at the table, and also the amount 
of nutrient present. 

Composition of Fish 



Fish 


Part analyzed 


Per cent 
Waste. 
Bones, 

etc. 


Per cent 
Gelatin 


Per cent 
Water 


Per cent 
Nutrients 


Sardines . . 


Whole 


4.91 

5.99 

8 33 

11.66 

10.51 

15.99 

6.13 

35.10 

21. 50 

31.20 

6.84 




42.17 
61 06 
67.12 
53.29 
65.21 
63.78 
67.68 
46 46 
61 29 
53.09 
69 35 
79.85 
61.18 
77.71 
65.20 


52 92 


Salmon . . 


Section 


0.53 
0.55 
1.09 
0.35 
0.43 
0.33 
80 
0.86 
0.59 
0.03 


33.02 


Trout 

Eels. 

Mackerel . . 
Cod. 


Whole 

Head s removed. 

Whole 

Section 


24.10 
33.96 
24.03 
19 79 


Salt cod 


Section 


25.85 


Haddock .. 


Whole 


17.64 


Whiting. .. 


Whole 


16.35 


Turbot 

Halibut. 


Anterior and head. . 
Section 


15.12 
23 78 


Plaice 


Flesh. 


20 14 


Soles 

Oysters 

Smelts 


Whole 

Shell contents. .... 


22.02 


0.74 


13.06 
22 29 


Whole 


"18.86 


6.38 


15.56 



Fish, beside being an economical source of nitroge- 
nous substances, has much value in satisfying the 
demand for variety in food. Any lack in nutrients is 
frequently supplied by the sauces with which it is 
served, and by the fat used if it is fried. It would 
seem to be an error from the standpoint of food values 
to serve a rich sauce with a fish like salmon that 
already contains a high proportion of proteid and a 
large amount of fat, but an egg sauce served with a 
light fish like cod or haddock has its justification, not 
only in the additional flavor imparted, but in the addi- 
tional food value. 

Oysters may be taken as a good type of the various 
shell fish that we use. The analysis of oysters shows 
a composition somewhat similar to that of milk, 



FISH 75 

although they are higher in nitrogen and lower in fat 
than milk. 

Average Composition of Oysters. (Langworthy.) 

(Exclusive of liquid.) 

Water 88.3 

Nitrogenous substances 6 1 

Fat 1.4 

Carbohydrates 3 8 

Salts 1.9 

When milk is seven cents a quart and oysters are 
twenty-five, the amount of food material purchased for 
a given amount differs greatly in the two. When oys- 
ters are fifty cents a quart they must be distinctly re- 
garded as a luxury, used for the purpose of provid- 
ing variety, and not as a valuable source of food. 
Oysters are one of the few animal foods that contain 
a large amount of carbohydrates. These are present 
in the liver of the oyster in the ' form of glycogen. 

The oyster is especially easy of digestion, but this 
digestibility is lessened by cooking. This is particu- 
larly true when the oyster is overcooked. An object- 
tion to the use of the raw oyster is that during the 
so-called fattening of the oyster, that is done in shal- 
low water, it may become contaminated w^ith typhoid 
germs derived from sewage. Some noted epidemics 
have been traced to this source. This simply means 
that greater care should be taken in the supervision 
of such a food supply in order that it may be protected 
from such possible contamination. 

Of other shell fish commonly used, clams have a 
similar composition to that of oysters, but contain 



Comparative 
Cost 



Digestibility 



Clams 
Lobsters 



7^ 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Dried and 

Smoked 

Fish 



Cooking 



a tougher muscle, while lobsters and crabs are gen- 
erally considered somewhat indigestible because of 
the firmness and compactness of their fibre. The dif- 
ficulty here seems partially at least to be the failure 
to properly masticate the flesh, as is true in so many 
other cases, and also the difficulty of obtaining the 
food in an absolutely fresh condition. 

Dried and smoked fish deserve a place in the diet 
for the sake of variety, and because, since the water has 
been eliminated, a large amount of food material is 
obtained for a small amount of money. The use of cer- 
tain varieties of canned fish has become general. Sal- 
mon is perhaps the most satisfactory of these. Special 
care should be taken in using canned fish to remove it 
immediately from the can after it is opened, and to use' 
it within a short time. Fish that has been frozen 
should be cooked immediately after thawing, since it 
decomposes much more rapidly than fish which has 
not been frozen. 

Fish, particularly some varieties, such as cod, occa- 
sionally contains parasites, but these are destroyed by 
thorough cooking. It is essential that all fish used 
should be thoroughly cooked, although this does not 
mean that it should be cooked at a high temperature. 
A temperature of from i8o to 200 degrees Fahrenheit 
continued long enough to coagulate the proteid and 
render the fish opaque instead of clear, gives far more 
satisfactory results than boiling. 

As in other cooking of flesh, this principle is appar- 
ently violated when fish is cooked in a hot oven, or 



FISH 



77 



fried, but as a matter of fact, the violation is only 
true so far as the outside layers are concerned, and 
this sacrifice is made in order to keep the shape of the 
fish and to develop the flavor. 

Comparative Costs of Protein and Energy as Furnished by a Number 
of Food Materials at Certain Prices 



Kind of Food Material. 



Codfish 

Codfish steaks 

Bluefish 

Halibut 

Cod, salt 

Mackeral, salt 

Salmon, canned 

Oysters, "solids" (30 cents per quart) 
Oysters, "solids" (60 cents per quart) 

Beef, sirloin 

Do 

Beef, round 

Beef, stew meat 

Beef, dried ' 'chipped" 

Mutton chops (loin) 

Mutton leg 

Pork roast (loin). ; 

Pork, smoked ham 

Milk (7 cents per quart) . . 

Milk (6 cents per quart) 

Lobster 

Wheat flour 

Corn meal 

Potatoes (90 cents per bushel) 

Potatoes (45 cents per bushel) 

Cabbage 

Corn, canned , 

Apples 

Bananas 

Strawberries 

From Fish as Food 





Cost of 


Price per 


protein 


pound. 


per 




pound. 


Cents. 




10 


fO.94 


13 


.71 


n 


1.23 


18 


1.18 


7 


.44 


10 


.68 


12 


.55 


1.5 


2.50 


30 


5 00 


£5 


1.53 


20 


1.23 


11 


.77 


.5 


.36 


25 


.97 


20 


1.54 


22 


1.48 


1-3 


.85 


23 


1.65 


BV2 


1.06 


3 


.91 


18 


3.05 


3 


.27 


2 


.33 


• ry2 


.88 


K 


.44 


■ 2^ 


1.79 


10 


3.57 


i'A 


5.00 


7 


8.75 


7 


7.00 



Cost of 
energy 
per 1000 
calories. 



$0.49 
.36 
.59 
.38 
.32 
.11 
.13 
.65 

1.30 
.26 
.21 
.16 
.07 
.33 
.14 
.25 
.09 
.13 
.11 
.09 

1.24 
.02 
.01 
.05 
.02 
.20 
.22 
.07 
•22 
.38 



EOOS 



One of the most general substitutes for meat is the 
egg. One would at first thought expect eggs to be 
of much the same composition as milk, since each fur- 



Composition 



78 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



White 

and 

Yolk 



nishes food for the growing animal, but when the 
different conditions are considered, the reason for the 
variation in this respect is readily seen. The ^g^ must 
contain a large amount of nourishment in the most 
compact form. It must furnish all the materials nec- 
essary for growth, but it does 
not need to provide for activ- 
ity to the extent that milk 
does. Consequently we find 
the carbohydrates wholly ab- 
sent, and a much larger pro- 
portion of solid material than 
is present in milk. The solids 
are in the form of proteids, 
fourteen and eight-tenths per 
cent; fat, ten and a half per 
cent ; and mineral salts, one 
per cent. This refers to the 
edible part only. 
The white of the ^gg contains twelve per cent of 
proteid, Avith practically no fat and a small amount of 
mineral matter, while the yolk has sixteen and two- 
tenths per cent of proteid and almost thirty-two per 
cent of fat. 

The greater part of the mineral salts are also in the 
yolk, although the sulphur that causes the blackening 
of the silver spoon with which we eat our tgg is 
chieflv in the white. 




(After Hutchison.) 

Diagram showing Composi- 
tion of White and Yolk of 
an Egg. 



EGGS 79 

While eggs form a valuable meat substitute, it is - 
difficult to use them wholly in the place of meat, since 
it takes so many eggs to equal a pound of meat. From 
eight to nine eggs constitute a pound. If the eggs 
have the composition given and meat contains eighteen 
per cent proteid, it would require about twelve eggs 
to furnish as much proteid as one pound of meat ; and 
one who would have no difficulty in eating half a 
pound of beefsteak at a meal, would not wish to eat 
an equal weight of eggs. 

Eggs like meat need to be supplemented by carbo- 
hydrate material. Bread and eggs furnish a satis- 
factory combination as well as bread and meat. Raw 
eggs are usually considered more easily digested than 
cooked eggs, although some experiments show that 
the cooked egg leaves the stomach in a shorter time 
than the uncooked. This is explained by the state- 
ment that the raw egg is digested largely in the in- 
testine. Its failure to excite the secretion of gastric 
juice in the stomach makes it possible to use raw eggs 
in the diet when the stomach requires rest. 

Hard cooked eggs take a longer time to digest than Digestibility 
those lightly cooked, but from recent government 
experiments they seem to differ little in the complete- 
ness with which they are digested, an egg boiled three 
minutes having 8.3 per cent of its nitrogen undigested 
at the end of five hours ; one boiled for five minutes 
having 3.9 per cent undigested, and one boiled for 
twenty minutes having 4.2 per cent remaining. Eggs 



8o FOOD AND DIETETICS 

cooked at i8o degrees Fahrenheit for five and ten min- 
utes respectively were totally digested in five hours. 
Possibly the rapidity of the digestion of the hard 
■ cooked ^gg may depend on the fineness of mastication. 
Cost Whether eggs are to be used freely depends largely 
upon their price. Eggs at fifteen cents a dozen may 
be so used, while at fifty cents a dozen they can not be 
regarded as an economical source of food. 

MILK 

Milk is often called a perfect food. This is true, 
however, only in a limited sense. Hutchison gives 
five tests of a perfect food. 
Tests of First, such a food must contain all the nutritive 

a Perfect . , - 

Food constituents required by the body ; proteids, fats, 
carbohydrates, mineral matter and water. 

Second^ it must contain these in their proper rela- 
tive proportions. 

Third, it must contain, in a moderate compass, the 
total amount of nourishment required daily. 

Fourth, the nutritive elements must be capable of 
easy absorption, and yet leave a certain bulk of un- 
absorbed matter to act as intestinal balance. 

Fifth, it must be obtainable at a moderate cost. 

Of these tests milk meets only the first perfectly. 
It contains the two proteids, casein and albumen. It 
contains the fat so familiar to us in the form of cream 
and butter. The carbohydrates are represented in it 
by milk sugar or lactose. The mineral salts are par- 



MILK 



8i 



ticularly valuable, and consists chiefly of calcium 
compounds, including calcium phosphate. 

When we come to the second test, we find a differ- 
ent condition. An average sample of milk contains 
87 per cent of water, three and three-tenths per cent 
proteid, four per cent fat, and 
five per cent carbohydrate, 
with seven-tenths of one per 
cent mineral matter. This pro- 
portion is of course right for 
the young animal, who de- 
mands a large proportion of 
muscle-building food, but it is 
far from a desirable propor- 
tion for the adult. 

Remembering that the nu- 
trient ratio is about one to 
five, or to put it in another 
form, that the adult requires 
approximately five times as much carbohydrate (or its 
equivalent) as proteid, we see that milk must be sup- 
plemented by some food containing a large proportion 
of carbohydrate before it can adequately supply the 
needs of the adult. As a matter of fact, experience 
has taught us to use with milk such a food as bread, 
thus supplying the needed starchy material. 

The third condition is not met better than the second. 
At least four quarts of milk a day would be necessary 
for the complete nutrition of a healthy man doing a 




(After Hutchison.) 

Composition of a Glass 
of Milk. 



Proportions 
of Nutrients 



Nutrient 
Ratio 



82 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



moderate amount of muscular work. Milk also is lack- 
ing in the bulk of unabsorbed matter that it leaves. 
Cost The fifth condition may or may not be fulfilled. In 

the city the price of milk is too high for it to be 
an economical source of food if used exclusively. On 
the other hand in the country the price of milk is 
often so low that this condition might be fulfilled. 

A comparison of the food value obtained from one 
pound (a pint) of milk and from that of a similar 
weight of some common article of food, is given, 
with the cost of each at prices taken from two differ- 
ent sections of the country: 

Comparative Food Value of Milk 

lb. of milk fui'iiislies .033 lbs. proteid .01 lbs. fat .05 lbs. carbohydrate 

" " sirloin steak " .165 " " .161 " " no " 

" " eggs (8 eggs) " .131 " " .093 " " no 

" " bread " .093 " " .013 " " .5311bs. 

" " potatoes " .018 " •' .001 " " .147 " 
(one 60th bu.) 

From milk at (.01 per qt. or .02 per lb.) 1 lb. of proteid costs $ .60 

" (.07 ' .035 '■ " 

" sirloin steak at .18 a lb. 

" .25 
" eggs at (.15 per doz. or .10 per lb.) 
" (.36 " " " .21 " " ) 
" bread at .05 per lb. 
M .; .> 08 " " 

•' potatoes at .60 per bu. or .01 per lb. 
" " '• $1.20 " " " .02 " " 

In addition to the proteid, the money invested would 
have purchased, in the case of milk more than a pound 
of fat and of sugar ; in that of meat an equal amount 
of fat; in the case of bread more than five pounds of 
starch; in that of potatoes nearly seven pounds of 



1 " " " 


1.06 




1.09 




1.52 




.76 




J. 83 




.51 




.87 




.56 




1.11 



MILK 



83 



starch ; while three-fourths of a pound of fat would be 
furnished by the eggs. 

Even at city prices milk might well be substituted to 
a certain extent for other proteid foods. The habit 
of many people of using milk simply as a beverage in 
addition to the food required, is perhaps responsible 
for the fact that many people find milk indigestible ; 
the difficulty lies not with the milk but with the over- 
abundance of food. An experiment was tried at the 
Maine Agricultural College on the effect of a limited 
and an unlimited amount of milk at the University 
boarding house. These experiments are reported in 
the Government Bulletin called Milk as Food, and the 
following conclusions are drawn : 

"First, the dietaries in which milk was more abun- 
dantly supplied w^as somewhat less costly than the 
others, and at the same time was fully as acceptable. 
Second, the increased consumption of milk had the 
effect of materially increasing the proportion of pro- 
tein in the diet. Third, the milk actually supplied the 
place of other food materials, and did not, as many 
suppose, simpl}^ furnish an additional amount of food 
without diminishing the quantity of other materials. 
Fourth, the results indicate that milk should not be re- 
garded as a luxury, but as an economical article of 
diet which families of moderate income may freely 
purchase as a probable means of improving the char- 
acter of the diet and of cheapening the cost of the 
supply of animal food." 



A Food 
Not a 
Beverage 



An 

Economical 

Food 



84 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Chart of the Pecuniary Economy of Milk and Other Foods at 

Given Prices 



Frotein- 



CarlMliyaraRs Fuel value. 




MILK 



85 



We may conclude that while it would not be econom- 
ical to obtain our total food supply from milk, it is 
good economy to use it freely in connection with other 
foods to furnish part of the proteid of the diet. 

The digestibility of milk varies very much with the 
method in which it is taken. If a small amount of 
liquid rennet or of the junket tablets so commonly 
found in the market, be added to a portion of warm 
milk, a thick clot forms. This is similar to the process 
that takes place in the stomach after milk has been 
swallowed. Milk properly, then, so far as its diges- 
tion is concerned, is a solid rather than a liquid food. 
Its digestibility depends largely upon the way in which 
this clot is formed. If the milk be swallowed rapidly, 
so that the rennin acts upon a large mass at once, one 
large clot is formed. If, on the other hand, the milk 
be sipped slowly, or eaten from a spoon, the action is 
slower and the curd is broken. 

The same result in a more marked degree is obtained 
by the addition of certain substances, such as lime- 
water, to the milk ; or by the mixing of the milk with 
bread, as is done in eating bread and milk. Some peo- 
ple who cannot use milk in its ordinary form have 
found that they could digest it without difficulty if a 
cracker were rolled into fine crumbs and stirred into 
the milk. The digestive juices that would act slowly 
upon a large mass of curd, act readily upon the same 
amount when it is broken into small clots. 

Boiled milk has generally been considered less diges- 



Digestibility 



Addition 
to Milk 



86 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Boiled 
Milk 



Buttermilk 
Koumiss 
Skim-milk 



tible than uncooked milk, but some experiments seem 
to contradict this. The experiment station bulletin 
states that when cow's milk has been boiled before it 
is taken into the stomach it is likely to be precipitated 
in a more floculent form. Hutchison says that it has 
been found in the case of infants and calves that ster- 
ilized milk which has been kept at or above the boil- 
ing point for more than an hour is absorbed quite as 
well as milk which has merely been boiled in the usual 
way, and he concludes that boiling does not appreciably 
diminish the digestibility of milk. 

On the other hand, the government bulletin states, 
after acknowledging that the results of experiments 
upon the subject are conflicting, that ''the more com- 
mon experience seems to indicate that cooking or heat- 
ing the milk makes the proteids somewhat more 
difficult for most persons to digest, but there are ex- 
ceptions to this rule, if it be a rule, for there are per- 
sons who cannot take fresh milk with comfort but with 
whom boiled milk agrees very well." 

In this case as in many others we must wait for a 
larger number of experiments to be made before we 
can make very dogmatic statements. 

Buttermilk is considered an especially digestible 
form of milk, while koumiss or fermented milk is of 
still greater value in this respect. Skim-milk deserves 
more general use than it has, since the proteid of the 
milk nearly all remains in this, and it is for the proteids 



MILK 87 

that we especially value the milk. Where skim milk 
is sold at a low price, it is economy to use it freely in 
cooking, supplying the needed fat in a- less expensive 
form than cream. 

The Composition of Milk 

The composition of milk has already been stated in Casein 
a general way. If we examine it more in detail, we 
find that the proteids of milk consist chiefly of two: 
casein or, as it is sometimes called, caseinogen. This 
forms about three per cent of the total of the 
milk. It is held in solution more or less completely by 
the salts of lime present in the milk. When acid is 
added to the milk, or it becomes sour, this casein is 
precipitated. When rennet is added the casein is 
coagulated and is changed in chemical composition. 
The scum that forms upon heated milk is chiefly 
casein. 

The other proteid present in milk is lact-albumen. Lact 
This coagulates when the milk is heated for a long 
time. It is present in much smaller amount than the 
casein, forming only about one-seventh of the total 
proteid of the milk. 

The sugar of the milk, forming between four and five Milk 
per cent, is called lactose or milk sugar. It has two 
important characteristics. It lacks the sweetness usu- 
ally associated with the name of sugar, having only a 
very slight sweet flavor, and it is considered the most 
digestible form of sugar, apparently fermenting in the 



Albumen 



Sugar 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Fats 



Mineral 
Matter 




stomach or intestines with much less ease than do 
other sugars. For both of these reasons it is particu- 
larly suitable for the use of infants or invalids. The 
commercial article is obtained from milk, and is sold 
in the form of a fine white powder looking not unlike 

pulverized sugar. Aside 
from its use as a food 
it is extensively used in 
the preparation of pills. 
The fat of milk is 
present in the form of 
an emulsion. If one 
looks at a drop of milk 
through the microscope 
one s.ees a large num- 
ber of tiny fat globules. 
That the fat is so fine- 
ly divided is a factor in 
its digestibility, though 
fat derived from milk, 
either in the form of 
cream or butter, is also 
considered particularly 
digestible. 

The mineral matter of milk consists largely of 
potash and lime salts, and of these salts the phos- 
phates are the most abundant. These are important, 
not only in the building of bone tissue, but also, 
as has been suggested before, in holding the casein 
in solution. 






r^^ 




Fat Globules of Milk Magnified 
200 Times. 

a Skim Milk. b Whole Milk. 
c Cream. 



MILK 89 

Water forms about 87 per cent of milk, and its chief water 
use in this form is in holding other materials in solu- 
tion. To compare milk with other foods, we should 
properly think of the solid ingredients alone, since 
the water has no more food value than water in any 
other form. 

Milk readily undergoes many changes, some of them Souring 
harmless and some more or less harmful. The most 
common change is that of souring. Bacteria present 
in the milk act upon the sugar and change it into lactic 
acid. After a certain amount of this acid has been 
produced, the growth of the bacteria is stopped, and 
no further change in the sugar takes place, though 
undoubtedly certain other changes take place both in 
the fat and in the proteid. 

There is no evidence that sour milk is unwholesome, use of 
The objection to it seems to be chiefly one of taste. Its m°iJ 
use in cooking produces good results, and many pre- 
fer it for some purposes to sweet milk since it seems 
to produce a more tender product than does the sweet 
milk. On the other hand, milk may under the action 
of certain bacteria produce most harmful products, 
and poisoning from these ptomaines is not uncommon 
where milk has been handled in an uncleanly manner 
and has been poorly cared for. A more serious dan- 
ger from milk is that owing to the excellent food it 
furnishes for almost all bacteria, it is frequently a 
carrier of disease. Disease germs that in water would 
not multiply and would probably live only for a short 



90 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Pure 
Milk 



Care of 
Milk 



Condensed 
Milk 



time, multiply abundantly in milk. It is because of 
the possibility of the presence of these harmful bac- 
teria, rather than from any danger from sour milk, 
that we guard our milk supply carefully. Each hour 
that elapses between the milking of the cow and the 
use of the milk by the consumer, increases the num- 
ber of bacteria present. One cubic centimeter of milk 
frequently contains from 400,000 to several million 
bacteria. 

Efforts to guard the milk supply have been directed 
in two ways. The sterilization or pasteurization of all 
milk is often recommended; but a more satisfactory 
method would seem to be the insuring of cleanly con- 
ditions upon the dairy farm where the milk is pro- 
duced. The next essential after cleanliness is that the 
milk should be cooled rapidly when first milked, since 
the lower temperature makes the fluid less favorable 
for the growth of germs. 

In the household milk should be kept in perfectly 
clean vessels, and should be loosely, not tightly, cov- 
ered, in order that there may be access of air to it, 
since the absence of fresh air favors the growth of 
certain putrefactive organisms. The entirely open 
vessel is only allowable in perfectly clean surround- 
ings, not only free from dust, but with no strong 
flavoring substance near from which odors could be 
absorbed. 

One form in which we often get milk is that of 
evaporated or condensed milk. This is simply milk 



MILK 



91 



from which most of the water has been removed, and 
which has been made sterile by heating to a high tem- 
perature. It has usually been sweetened, and the sugar 
acts as a preservative. \Miile it is a convenient form 
for use when fresh milk is not obtainable, its large 
amount of sugar renders it somewhat undesirable as 
a common article of diet, and also makes it unfit for 
many cooking purposes. 

There is being put upon the market now milk 
powder that seems to consist chiefly of the curd of the 
milk dried and ground. \Mth the addition of water 
it forms a very fair substitute for milk. 

Milk is perhaps more often adulterated than any 
other common article of diet. The most common form 
of adulteration is that of skimming or removing part 
of the cream. This can easily be detected, because it 
increases the specific gravity of the milk. To coun- 
terbalance this, water, which is slightly lighter than 
milk, is added in such proportion that the twice adul- 
terated milk gives the same test as if it had not been 
tampered with at all. 

Another adulteration that is sometimes practiced is 
that of adding coloring matter to the milk. This is 
usually done in order to conceal the blueness of the 
milk, when it has been watered. 

Preservatives are frequently used. Of these boric 
acid is probably the least harmful, though some au- 
thorities contend that formaldehyde in the minute 
quantities in which it is used has no physiological 



Milk 
Powder 



Adulteration 



Preservatives 



92 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

effect. A milk that will stand in a warm place for 

some hours and show no tendency to sour is open to 

the suspicion of having* been treated in some such 

way. Ordinary cooking soda is sometimes added to 

neutralize the acidity that may be present because of 

the age of the milk. Salicylic and benzoic acids are 

sometimes found, while formaldehyde is used most of 

all. 

MILK phoducts 

Butter The importance of milk is hardly greater than that 

of its two chief products, butter and cheese. Butter 
consists chiefly of the fat of the milk with a small 
amount of water, of casein and of salt, with sometimes 
a little milk sugar. The average amount of fat con- 
tained is 82 per cent. The fats which are present may 
be put into two classes : Those derived from the so- 
called ''fixed" fatty acids, and those from the volatile 
fatty acids. The fixed fatty acids are present in the 
form of stearin, the chief ingredient in beef fat, and 
of palmitin and olein. The amount of the volatile 
acids present differentiate butter from most of the 
other fats that we commonly use as food. The flavor 
of butter is produced apparently by the action of 
bacteria upon the cream, the different flavor of butter 
at different times of the year coming largely from 
differences in the kind and amount of bacteria that 
find their way into the milk. The "ripening" of the 
cream is often induced by artificial cultures of the 
proper bacteria. Many buttermakers abroad and in 



BUTTER 



93 



some sections of our own country, depend entirely 
upon these bacterial cultures for the production of 
their butter flavor. 

The rancidity of butter may be produced by changes 
taking place in the casein that is present, or from a 
decomposition of the fats themselves. Cooking les- 
sens the digestibility of butter as it does that o-f other 
^ats, probably because of the decomposition that takes 
place when fats are subjected to a high temperature, 
and the consequent freeing of irritating fatty acids. 

The adulteration of butter consists chiefly in a sub- 
stitution of other substances, either in whole or in 
part, for the butter fat, or of an inferior and ''doc- 
tored" article. The coloring of butter is almost univer- 
sal, but it is so generally accepted that it can hardly 
be classed as an adulteration, although it surely shows 
a false standard in foods when we insist upon buying 
a deep yellow compound colored with annatto or some 
other foreign m.aterial instead of the delicate straw- 
colored substance that most natural uncolored butter is. 

The substitutions spoken of are chiefly either what 
is called renovated butter, or oleomargarine. Reno- 
vated butter is made by taking different lots of stale 
or rancid butter, melting it, allowing the curd to settle, 
and re-churning the fat with a small amount of milk. 
The product is certainly better than the rancid butter, 
but it cannot compare in flavor and in wholesomeness 
with fresh butter, and certainly should not be sold as 
such. 



Changes 



Adulteration 



Renovated 
Butter 



94 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

Butterine Oleomargarine, or biitterine, is made by clarifying 

the fat of beef and churning it in milk. It differs 
from butter in its composition in that it contains 
practically no curd, and is lacking in the volatile fatty 
acids that are present in the butter and character- 
istic of it. It is a cheaper product than butter, and 
the temptation to put it upon the market under the 
name of butter has consequently been great. There 
is absolutely no reason, however, why, sold under its 
own name, it should not be a very general article of 
use. There seems nothing to show that it is materially 
less digestible than butter itself; it does not grow 
rancid with the ease that butter does, and it is made in 
a perfectly cleanly and wholesome way, certainly so far 
as the best quality of it is concerned. Even if it is 
artificially colored, this is no worse than is true of 
butter. The difference in taste between it and butter 
is rather in an absence of the aroma that we find in the 
best butter, than in any disagreeable flavor present. 
Indeed, although each person thinks to the contrary 
in regard to himself, few people are able to distin- 
guish it from butter by taste. It may be used in almost 
every way as a butter substitute. It is perfectly satis- 
factory to use in the making of sauces or upon vege- 
tables or meat. It does not make so light a cake as 
butter, and is not satisfactory for this purpose, except 
that in a plain cake it may be substituted for part 
of the butter ; and it cannot be used in candy making 
as, for some reason, it fails to combine with the other 



CHEESE 95 

materials and always separates out upon cooling. ^ 
Since it is so much cheaper than butter it would be 
well to use it as a substitute for part of the more ex- 
pensive material. 

The present law in regard to it has lessened its 
sale to a great extent since it can no longer be artifi- 
cially colored, but.it is certainly only prejudice that 
prevents our accepting a pure white fat instead of a 
bright yellow one. 

Cheese, so far as nutritive value is concerned, stands cheese 
almost at the head of our list of foods. Since it is 
made from the curd of the milk, and the water has 
largely been disposed of in the whey, while the fat is 
carried down with the curd, we have the most im- 
portant part of the milk solids in a condensed form. 
The composition of the different varieties of cheese 
varies to quite an extent, but in a rough way w^e may 
say that cheese is one-third proteid, one-third fat and 
one-third water. Alineral salts are abundant as well, 
while a small amount of milk sugar is sometimes 
present. 

Cheese is prepared by the addition of rennet to cheese 
milk. Coloring matter is generally added, and salt. Makmg 
After the curd has set, it is cut in small pieces and the 
whey allowed to drain off. The curd is then put into a 
press and allowed to remain for a few hours. After 
this the real curing or ripening of the cheese begins, 
and this process is allowed to go on for months in 
order to develop the flavor. This flavor is produced 



96 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Digestibility 



Effects of 
Cooking 



by the action of bacteria, different varieties of bac- 
teria giving us the different flavors of the various 
kinds of cheese. 

While there is no question as to the nutritive value 
of cheese, there is more doubt as to its digestibility. 
In many countries cheese is used largely as a substi- 
tute for meat, and wherever it can be digested this is 
certainly a rational thing. Some people who have 
delicate digestions have no difficulty in digesting 
cheese, while others find it an extremely indigestible 
food. One difficulty seems to be that the cheese is 
frequently not chewed enough, and the digestive 
organs have to cope with lumps of the material. 
Cheese generally proves more digestible if it is finely 
divided and mixed with some starchy material like 
bread crumbs or macaroni. Another factor in its 
digestibility is the temperature at which it is cooked. 
Like all proteid foods, it is toughened and hardened by 
a high temperature. This is very evident in the case 
of such a dish as a Welsh rarebit, where over-cooking 
produces a tough, stringy, most indigestible mass. In 
combining cheese with such a dish as macaroni it is 
well not to allow the cheese to be at the bottom or the 
top of the dish, but to protect it from the high tem- 
perature by putting it between the layers of starchy 
material. 

Matthieu Williams, in his chemistry of cookery, 
suggests the use of a little bicarbonate of potash, the 
old-fashioned salaratus, to make the cheese more 



CHEESE 97 

soluble and therefore more digestible. Sometimes 
after the cheese has become tough from the action of 
too high a temperature, it may be again made soft by 
the addition of this substance, or of baking soda. 
Hutchison suggests that the disagreeable effect that 
cheese has upon some people may be due to small 
quantities of fatty acids produced in the process of 
ripening. The philosophy of the use of cheese at the 
end of a dinner seems to be that the cheese in small 
quantities aids the digestion of other foods, even 
though it is not always easily digested itself. Wher- 
ever, then, cheese can be used and digested without 
difficulty, it forms an excellent article of food, one that 
should be used more freely than is done at present. 



98 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Importance 



CEREALS AND THEIR PRODUCTS 

The most important of all our vegetable foods are 
without doubt cereals. Not only do they contain a 
large amount of nutriment, chiefly, but by no means 
wholly, in the form of carbohydrates, but their areas 
of growth are widely distributed, and their power of 
adaptation to different climates and conditions is usu- 
ally great. This alone would render them exceedingly 



Bar 




PROBABLE NATIVE HOME OF THE GRAINS. 

(From Corn Plants By Fredric LeRoy Sargent.) 

important as food for the human race. Of them all 
wheat is undoubtedly the most important from its wide 
distribution and its power of adaptation to different 
conditions. Rice follows closely in importance, while 
corn, oats, rye, barley and millet each have an impor- 
tant place in the food of the world. The home of the 



CEREALS 



99 



cereals seems for the most part to have been Central 
Asia, nearly all, except rice and corn, originating 
there. Corn is supposed to have originated in Mex- 
ico. From these centers their production has spread 
through all parts of the vi'orld. 

A comparison of the composition of some of the 
different cereals in forms commonly used is given in 
the following table: 

Composition of Cereals. 



Wheat flour (entire) . . 

Cornmeal 

Oatmeal 

Rye flour 

Barley meal and flour 

Barley (pearled) 

Rice. 



Per Cent 


Per Cent 


Per Cent 


of 


of 


of Carbo- 


Water. 


Proteid. 


hydrate. 


11.4 


13.8 


71.9 ' 


12 5 


9.2 


75 4 


7.3 


16.1 


67.5 


12.9 


6 8 


78.7 


11.9 


10 5 


72.8 


11.5 


8.5 


77.8 


12.3 


8. 


79. 




Wheat derives its special importance from the fact 
that it will grow in so many different climates and 
under so many varying conditions. It may be sown 
either in the fall or in the spring, and receives its name 
of winter or spring wheat, according to the time of the 
planting. Many varieties are found, such as red 
wheat and white wheat, hard and soTt w^heat. 

The hard wheats contain a larger proportion of 
gluten, and therefore a smaller proportion of starch 
than do the soft wheats. Wheat from which macaroni 
is manufactured, is an exceedingly hard variety. Suc- 
cessful attempts have been made within a few years to 
grow macaroni wheats in this country, and much of it 
is now produced in Dakota. Though hard wheat is 



Composition 



Wheat 



Varieties 



LOFC 




THE PRINCIPAL GRAINS. 

(Redrawn from Coi'n Plants.) 



CEREALS 



lOI 



used chiefly for making pastes like macaroni, excellent 
bread can be made from it also, as is shown by ex- 
periments made at the So, Dakota Agricultural Col- 
lege. 

Winter wheats as a rule are 
softer than spring wheats. So- 
called pastry flour is made from 
the softer wheats. Much of our 
bread flour is now made from 
mixtures of winter and spring 
wheat, and great care is exercised 
in the combining of these in order 
to keep an even standard. 

The process of manufacturing 
flour is carried out differently by 
different manufacturers, so far as 
its details are concerned, but the 
main features are the same. The 
wheat as it comes to the mill is 
first of all cleaned, by screening to get rid 
of any large foreign substances that may be 
present in it, and by "scouring" to get rid 
of the fine dirt that may adhere. The next process 
is that known as breaking. The wheat is cut by 
corrugated iron rollers provided for the purpose. 
There are generally five breaks in all. Each ''break" 
is put through a number of siftings. The meshes of 
the bolting cloth through which this sifting is done are 
graduated in size, and the products accordingly vary in 




Section of a Grain 
of Wheat. 
From a Maine Exp. 
Station Bulletin. 



Flour 



Bolting 



102 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Scalping 



Mixing 

and 

Testing 



fineness. The finest particles are calbd the dustings, 
the coarsest are the scalpmgs, while between these are 
the middlings, — germ, medium and fine. The scalpings 
from the first break undergo a second breaking and 
are again separated by sifting as in the first break, 




SECTIONS OF A WHEAT GRAIN SHOWING THE STRUCTURE 
AND DIFFERENT PARTS. 
(From Original Drawings.) 

and this process continues through all the breaks. 

The flours on the market are made from mixtures of 
the products of the different breaks. When a flour is 
mixed it is tested by making a portion of it into a 
small loaf and baking it, and comparing this loaf with 
that made from some standard flour. The scalpings 
from the last break constitute the bran. This is al- 



CEREALS 



ro3 



most wholly cellulose and is therefore not digestible 
by human beings, but much of the so-called graham 
flour on the market is simply a mixture of white flour 
with some of this bran. 

Whole wheat flour is made by grinding the entire 
kernel of wheat. The outer coating of cellulose is 
thus divided into exceedingly small particles, so that 
it is less irritating to the digestive organs than when 
used in the form of large pieces of bran. 

There is little difficulty today in obtaining good 
flour, but the diflferent brands vary in composition, 
and so do different lots of the same brand, in spite of 
the effort to keep them constant. This means that a 
different treatment must be used. It is well, then, in 
the household, to experiment a few times with a new 
lot of flour before condemning it as poor and return- 
ing it. 

Some false standards have been set up in regard to 
flour. The best bread flour is not pure white, but 
yellowish in tint. It readily retains the impression of 
the fingers, if a little is pressed together in the hand. 
It always has a slightly gritty feeling, while pastry 
flour is much smoother and more velvety to the touch. 

Within a few years the use of cereals as breakfast 
foods has become general. W'e have now not only the 
standard meals, which have been used for a long time, 
but a multitude of patent preparations as well. The 
Maine agricultural experiment station found that of 
fifty varieties of cereals purchased in the market, only 



Whole 
Wheat 



Flour 



Standard 



Ereatfast 
Foods 



IG4 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

about twenty had been on sale for more than three 
years. ]\Iany of these are only new in name, or differ 
very slightly from those before used. Within a short 
time there has been added to our list of breakfast 
cereals many that claim to be predigested foods, and 
some that make absurd claims with regard to their 
wonderful food value, while others stand for what they 
are, without pretence. 

Probably there is comparatively little to choose be- 
tween different preparations of the same grain, so far 
as their chemical composition goes. The analysis of 
the uncooked food, however, by no means represents 
the composition of the cereal as we eat it. An analysis 
of boiled oatmeal, for instance, gave: Water, 84.5 per 
cent ; protein, 2.8 per cent ; carbohydrate, 1 1.5 per cent ; 
fat, 5 per cent. Comparing this with the analysis of 
oatmeal given on p. 99, we find only about one-sixth 
the per cent of nutritive material, with a correspond- 
ing increase of water. A cereal that would absorb a 
greater weight of water would show still greater varia- 
tion. 
Dipestitiiity The digestibility of the cereals is influenced by the 

of Cereals coarseness of the particles. The coarser foods are 
highly desirable in many cases, especially where a slug- 
gishness of the intestines exists, and in other cases are 
very irritating to the delicate lining of stomach and 
intestine. Individual needs must determine the use of 
each. 

Most of the cereals, even those that are steam 



CEREALS 105 

cooked, need much more cooking than is ordinarily coSing^ 

given them in order to sufficiently hydrate the starch. 

Of the foods supposed to be ready to eat, it is difficult 

to speak definitely, for lack of careful experimentation. 

In most of them a certain proportion of the starch 

has been converted into dextrin and sugar. Two 

questions arise in regard to this. Has the starch been 

sufficiently changed so that it no longer is indigestible 

as uncooked starch ; and is it desirable to have the 

starch digested? There seems to be a tendency in our 

modern life to depend too largely upon predigested 

foods, particularly in the case of children. This means 

a tendency toward the lessening of the power to digest. 

It is certainly a question whether it is not best to take 

our starch undigested but in such a form that it can 

be easily acted upon by the digestive juices, rather 

than to have the work done outside the body. 



io6 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



History 



Kinds of 
Bread 



BREAD 

Bread was one of the earliest foods of man. That it 
was used long before history was written, the discover- 
ies of modern times have shown us. In Switzerland, 
in the lake dwelling's of prehistoric times, there have 
been found not only stones for grinding meal and bak- 
ing bread, but even bread itself, in the form of round 
cakes. The first mention of bread in literature is in 
Genesis, in the words of Abraham to the angels, 'T 
will fetch a morsel of bread." The Egyptians knew 
the art of breadmaking, and baked loaves and cakes in 
great variety of form and flavor. One ancient Greek 
writer names sixty-two kinds of bread in use ; and in 
Rome there were many bakeries, where not only was 
the baking of bread done, but the grain was pounded 
and sifted, to prepare it for use. 

In our own day bread is found in a great variety of 
forms, many of them characteristic of certain nations; 
familiar examples are the black bread of Germany, the 
oat cakes of Scotland, the hard rye cakes of northern 
Sweden, baked only twice in the year, and the passover 
cakes or unleavened bread of the Jews. 

Bread forms the staple food of a large section of the 
human race, and is often the only means of subsistence 
of the very poor. Mr. Goodfellow, in some investiga- 
tions made in London, found that in the worst districts 
fifteen per cent of the children ate only bread for the 



BREAD 107 

twenty-one meals of the week, while forty per cent ^ 
more had other food only two or three times a week. 

It is essential that so universal a food should be nu- %°ll^ 
tritious, palatable, and digestible. To fulfil these con- 
ditions, the flour used must be rich in nutriment; the 
bread must be light and pOx'ous, that as large a surface 
as possible may be exposed to the digestive juices; 
and the cooking must develop the flavor, and render 
the food materials assimilable to the greatest possible 
extent. The necessary ingredients of bread are flour 
of some variety and liquid for moistening it. Salt 
for flavoring is required by almost every one, and to 
most of us the term bread implies some agent for light- 
ening the dough. 

Wheat is the flour most commonly employed not wheat 
only because of its widespread growth but because of 
the presence in it of the proteid called gluten, or morj 
strictly speaking, of the proteids that upon the addition 
of water form gluten. Gluten is an important aid in 
the making of bread light in that being an elastic tena- 
cious substance it retains the gas as it is formed in the 
dough. In the process of cooking, the gluten hardens 
and thus enables the loaf to retain its shape. This 
function of gluten may be compared to that of soap 
in the water from which soap bubbles are blown. 

If some gluten be prepared from flour, as in the ex- 
periment on page 41, and baked, the value of this sub- 
stance in lightening the dough will be appreciated. 



Bread 



io8 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



other 
Breads 



Of the other cereals, rye makes the lightest bread as 
its proteids form with water a sticky substance not so 
elastic or tenacious as the gluten of the wheat, but 
sufficiently so as to retain much gas. Corn flour, 
however, makes only a flat and crumbly loaf unless 
tgg be added to increase the elasticity of the dough. 

The most desirable bread flour is one rich in gluten. 



Leavening 
Agents 




DIAGRAM SHOWING COMPOSITION OF A 
LOAF OF BREAD. 

(After Hutchison.) 

Even very hard macaroni wheat may be made into 
excellent bread as has been shown at the South Dakota 
Agricultural Experiment Station. If a flour poor in 
gluten and rich in starch is to be used a stiffer dough 
must be made than with the opposite conditions. In 
spite of the efforts of the manufacturers to maintain a 
constant standard in flour each barrel varies somewhat, 
and slightly different treatment may be needed. 

Many different agents for lightening the dough have 
been used at various times. The ancient leaven was 
made by allowing flour and water to stand in a warm 



BREAD log 

place till it fermented. Part of this dough was used 
to start the fermentation in a new mixture of flour and 
water. In some sections of our own country "salt 
rising" bread is commonly used. In England aerated 
bread, made by forcing carbon dioxide under pressure 
into the dough, has been advocated and used to some 
extent. 

The most common method of lightening the loaf, in Yeast 

1 • 1-1 r -xr Bread 

this country at least, is by means of yeast. Yeast 
comes into the household in three forms, that of liquid 
yeast, compressed, and dried yeast. The last is most 
often used by those too far from the source of supply 
to obtain compressed yeast in good condition. It 
makes satisfactory bread, but the process is a long one, 
as time must be allowed for the dry yeast to take up 
water and renew its life processes. Liquid, or home 
brewed yeast, prepared usually from potato with the 
water from a few hops, frequently with the addition of 
sugar and flour, and the whole fermented by means of 
the addition of a "pitching" yeast, is much less used 
than formerly. Aside from the trouble of preparation, 
it is open to the disadvantage of usually containing 
many bacteria and wild yeasts. Many think, however, 
that the fine texture and delicious flavor of old fash- 
ioned home made bread was due in part to the use of 
this yeast. 

Compressed yeast is a by product of the distillery or compressed 
the brewery. It is skimmed from the top of the fer- Yeast 



no 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Chemical 
Process 



Methods 
of Making 



meriting liquor, is washed, strained, mixed with a small 
amount of starch and pressed into large cakes. At the 
distributing centers it is cut and wrapped in foil and 
sold for one or two cents, according to locality. It is, 
on the whole, the most satisfactory yeast to use in bread 
making, though it is rarely, if ever, free from the bac- 
teria that cause the souring of bread when conditions 
are right for their growth. 

The changes that take place in the process of bread- 
making are largely those of fermentation. Some of 
the starch of the flour is changed to sugar, and the 
sugar is broken up into alcohol and carbon dioxide. If 
the fermentation goes too far the alcohol is changed 
to acetic and other acids and the bread becomes sour. 
Yeast is not the sole agent working; bacteria and not 
yeast are responsible for the souring, while the change 
of starch into sugar is probably accomplished by bac- 
teria or some enzyme (ferment) present in the flour. 

Chemical changes, such as the change of some of the 
starch into dextrin and some of the sugar into cara- 
mel, which takes place especially in the crust of the 
bread, are caused by the heat of the oven, while the 
same agent is responsible for the driving off of the 
alcohol and carbon dioxide present. 

A few years ago bread was almost invariably made 
by what is called the long process. A small amount of 
yeast was used and the bread was allowed to rise over 
night. Now more often the bread is set in the morning 
and the whole process is carried through in six hours. 



BREAD III 

The advantage of the latter method is that it makes it 
possible to watch the process and regulate the temper- 
ature more carefully than can be done if the bread is 
set at night. As temperature is an important factor in 
the growth of the yeast, too low a temperature hinder- 
ing its growth, and too high a temperature favoring the 
growth of the acid producing bacteria, this is a distinct 
advantage. The most favorable range of temperature 
is from 75 degrees to 90 degrees F. 

On the other hand, the long process produces a 
loaf of a texture preferred by many, and some ex- 
periments tend to shov^ that it may be slightly more 
digestible. 

There has been- discussion for many years over the Graham 
comparative value of graham, whole wheat and white wheat Sr^ead 
bread. Several years ago graham bread was urged 
upon every one as the only satisfactory bread. After 
a time the conclusion was reached that the coarse par- 
ticles of the graham flour were too irritating to the in- 
testinal wall, and its use was discouraged except where 
this very irritation was desirable, as in case of consti- 
pation. Then came the era of whole wheat bread, show- 
ing like the graham a high percent of nutriment. At 
one time it seemed to be considered almost a crime to 
use any other bread than this. The presence of phos- 
phates in larger amount than in white flour and the 
higher proportion of proteid seemed a sufficient reason 
for encouraging its use by every one. 

The latest government investigations have proved 



112 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



White Bread 

More 

Nutritious 



Combinations 
with Bread 



that this was a false assumption. While from the chem- 
ical standpoint it is true, from the physiological one it 
is not. Less of the material of whole wheat bread 
is available for use in the body, or in other words, a 
larger proportion is excreted in the feces than in white 
bread, so that whole wheat is not superior to white 
bread in real nutritive value. It is hurried through the 
intestines more quickly and thus given less chance for 
absorption than is true of the white bread. The 
phosphates are so closely attached to the outer cellulose 
wall that they probably do not furnish any more ma- 
terial to the body than is obtained from bread made of 
white flour. 

Although bread contains a fair proportion of proteid, 
about 9.2 per cent, it has too little proteid, too little 
fat, and too large an amount of starch to form in 
itself a perfect food. Instinctively we supplement it 
with these lacking ingredients. We use butter on 
our bread, we eat bread with meat, or we combine 
it with milk. In either case we are supplementing it 
admirably. Eggs, too, contain the lacking fat and 
proteid. Nuts eaten with bread and cheese so much 
used in many countries have scientific sanction. 

Good bread is one of the cheapest, most nutritious, 
most easily and completely digested of all foods and 
well deserves its title the ''Stafif of Life." 



SUGAR 



113 



SUGAR AS FOOD 

]\Irs, Abel, in the government pamphlet Sugar as 
Food, calls attention to the fact that the consumption 
of sugar is everywhere increasing. In England 
eighty-six pounds per capita and in the United States 
sixt3'-four pounds per capita were consumed in the 
year 1895. This means simply the sugar that is manu- 
factured in this form, and does not include that taken 
in the form of various fruits and vegetables. 

The desire for sugar seems to be universal, and 
the fact that children always crave it would seem to 
be an indication that it is needed in their diet. On the 
rther hand, we must remember that the manufacture 
of sugar is comparatively a late matter, and that 
earlier, a hundred years or so ago, people got along 
without it except as naturally present in their foods. 

in using sugar it must be remembered that it is a 
highly concentrated food, and that it is therefore not 
to be used in such large quantities as would be right 
m the case of foods containing a large amount of 
w^ater. It seems best fitted for assimilation by the 
body when it is diluted or used with other foods that 
give it the necessary bulk. It is also an error to use 
sugar, as is so often done, w^ith other foods in such 
a way or in so large an amount as to disguise the 
natural flavor of these foods. 

One of the advantages of sugar is that it passes 
quickly into the circulation, so that the energy obtained 



Consumption 



Concentrated 
Food 



114 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Sources 
of Sugar 



Glucose 



from it is available in a very short period. It is par- 
ticularly fitted for food in cases of exhaustion. 

The bad effects of sugar are ascribed by Mrs. Abel 
to its use in too great quantity. Three or four ounces 
a day can be disposed of by the healthy adult with 
impunity. It has generally been thought that sugar 
is injurious to the teeth, but this also is denied. Any 
bad effects of this kind are due not to sugar in the 
diet, but to the allowing particles of sweet food to re- 
fer acid fermentation and possible injury to the 
teeth. 

The source of most of the sugar used until a 
few years ago was the sugar cane. Now over half 
of the sugar used in the world is obtained from the 
sugar beet. In 1904, only about 10 per cent of the 
sugar used in the United States came from the sugar 
beet. There has been an impression that beet root 
sugar is less satisfactory for many purposes than the 
cane sugar, but it is identical chemically. It may be 
true in some cases that the beet root sugar has not been 
completely purified, and that these impurities give an 
odor to the sugar upon boiling, and possibly affect some 
of its uses ; but the properly prepared sugar may be 
used in every way that sugar from the sugar cane may ; 
indeed, it is impossible to distinguish between them. 

Another sugar of which we hear a good deal is 
glucose. This has been made much of as an adul- 
terant, particularly of candy. There is, however, no 
reason to think that glucose is less digestible or less 



SUGAR 



II 



easily assimilated than cane sugar. Indeed, it is more 
nearly ready for assimilation. When we boil sugar 
for any length of time in the presence of an acid, we 
change a certain amount of the sugar into glucose. 
Candy that will stretch we may be sure contains at 
least some of its sugar in this form. If glucose is pure 
and properly prepared there is no reason to fear it as 
an adulterant of candv. The cheap coloring matter 
and flavors that are used in some of the cheap candies 
are more to be feared, since some of them are harmful. 

It is possible that since glucose goes so rapidly into 
circulation it may overload the system more readily 
than would plain sugar, and it is more easily fer- 
mented. 

Maple sugar, regarded as a delicacy, is simply cane 
sugar plus the flavoring matters found in the maple 
tree. ]\Iilk sugar is generally considered, the most 
easily digested form of sugar and it less easily under- 
goes fermentation. 

Cane sugar is on the market in various forms. 
Ordinary powdered sugar is, of course, the same sub- 
stance as granulated sugar, but more finely ground. 
This is often considered adulterated because it is less 
sweet than the granulated form, but the lack of sweet- 
ness is due to the finely divided condition. A very 
simple test will serve to show the presence of adulter 
ants since these would probably be either some form 
of porcelain clay, or starch. If the sugar dissolves in 
water neither of these can be present. 



Maple 
Sugar 



Powdered 
Sugar 



ii6 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Molasses 



Effect 

on Diet 

of Use 

of Sugar 



The brown sugars that we use are simply cane sugar 
that has not been decolorized, or has been only par- 
tially so treated. 

Molasses formerly was obtained as a bi-product in 
the manufacture of sugar, and was the part of the 
sugar-cane juice that would not crystallize, containing 
a large per cent of glucose. With modern methods 
of work and with the coming in of beet sugar, 
whose molasses has such a strong flavor that it cannot 
be put upon the market, a manufactured molasses came 
into use. The commercial molasses of the present day 
is frequently glucose, prepared from starch, colored 
and flavored with a small amount of molasses from 
the sugar factories. Sometimes the light molasses 
has been bleached, and the bleaching agents, unless 
completely removed, may be injurious. Sorghum 
molasses is also used in some sections. 

One comparison in regard to the addition of sugar 
to the diet may be interesting. In the case of milk, it 
has been found that an addition of this in any large 
amount to the diet means a corresponding decrease 
in the amount of other foods used. This seems not 
to be true of sugar. When sugar is furnished freely 
in abundance, it does not decrease the use of other 
foods, but sometimes by adding to the flavor of these 
actually increases thier consumption. On the other 
hand, the desire for sugar often marks an inadequate 
diet. 



TEST QUESTIONS 

The following questions constitute the "written reci- 
tation" which the regular members of the A. S. H. E. 
answer in writing and send in for the correction and 
comment of the instructor. They are intended to 
emphasize and fix in the memory the most important 
points in the lesson. 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 

PART II 



Read Carefully. The following- U. S. Government Bul- 
letins should be read in connection with this lesson: No. 
34, Meat Composition and Cooking-; No. 85, Fish as Food; 
No. 128, Eg-g-s and their Use as Food; No. 74, Milk as Food; 
No. 112, Bread and the Principles of Bread Making-; No. 93, 
Sug-ar as Food, These may be obtained free by addressing 
the Department of Ag-riculture, Washing-ton, D. C. Place 
your name and address on the first sheet of the test. 
Iveave space between answers. Make your answers full 
and complete. 

1. What is the relative value of animal and vege- 

table foods? 

2. What are the chief nutrient ingredients of meat? 

How may the presence of some of these be 
shown? What reasons are there for cooking 
meat? 

3. Compare clear soup, beef broth, and beef juice 

as to their nutritive value. 

4. What meat substitutes may be used in the daily 

diet, and how does their value compare with 
that of meat? 

5. In what ways does milk satisfy the require- 

ments of a perfect food? How does it fail? 

6. What is the approximate composition of milk? 

Under what conditions is its free use econom- 
ical? 

7. Give the composition of butter. How does 

cooking affect its digestibility? 

8. What is renovated butter? How may oleomar- 

garine be used and how does it compare with 
butter in wholesomeness? 

9. Describe the process of cheese making. 



POOD AND DIETETICS 

10. What is the food vahie of cheese? With what 

foods should it be combined? 

11. \M'iat can you say of the value of the cereals as" 

food? 

12. If scales are available weigh out a portion of 

rice (about ^ cup), boil, and weigh again. If 
the scales are not at hand, measure the rice 
carefully, before and after cooking. How does 
the composition of the cooked rice differ from 
that of the uncooked? Repeat the experiment 
with a potato and compare results. 

13. Why is wheat so extensively used? What is 

its especial value in bread making? 

14. What are the chief steps in the manufacture of 

flour? 

15. What are the tests for a good flour? Why is 

a flour high in gluten desirable for bread? 

16. AMiat are the characteristics of good bread? 

17. Compare the nutritive value of whole wheat and 

white bread. When is graham bread valu- 
able? 

18. What kinds of yeast are in common use ? What 

are the advantages and disadvantages of each? 

19. State the chief changes that take place in the 

process of bread making and baking. 

20. W^hat is the value of sugar as food? How does 

beet sugar differ from that obtained from the 
cane? What can you say of the adulteration 
of sugar? 

21. Ask one or more questions on this lesson. 

Note. — After completing' the test, sign your full name. 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



PART HI 



VEGETABLES 

An increasing importance is coming to be attached 
to the use of vegetables and fruits in the diet. Not 
only vegetarians but many others have found from 
experience that it is possible to live largely upon vege- 
table food, while those who use meat freely lay great 
stress upon the vegetable accompaniments whether in 
the form of salads or of cooked vegetables. 

A study of vegetables - from the standpoint of bot- 
any would implv their classification according to the 
parts of the plant used ; whether leaf, as in the case of 
lettuce, cabbage, spinach ; stem, as in celer}' , aspara- 
gus, potato (a tuber, or underground stem) ; root, as 
in beet, carrot and sweet potato ; flower, as cauli- 
flower; or fruit, as squash, cucumber, tomato. 

From the standpoint of cookery the most important 
classification is that of strong flavored and szvcct 
flavored vegetables, since this modifies our method of 
cooking ; right methods leading us to retain all the 
juices of the latter as far as possible, while we legiti- 
mately discard part of the extract of the former. For 
example, green peas and string beans, young carrots, 
and squash, should be cooked in a small amount of 
water, or have the water in which they are cooked 
concentrated at the end so that it may all be served 

119 



Botannical 
Classification 



Flavor 
Classification 



120 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Nutritive 
Classification 



Cellulose of 
Vegetables 



with the vegetable ; while in the case of onions we 
may well use a large portion of water, and throw it 
away. It is true that in this latter case we may lose 
valuable salts and some nutriment, but these we sac- 
rifice for the sake of improved flavor. 

From the standpoint of diet a better classification 
would be into nutritive vegetables and flavor vegeta- 
bles. With the latter we should include those that 
contain mineral salts, but have little food value. Of 
this class, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, tomato and cucum- 
ber are types ; while rice, potatoes, peas, beans and 
lentils furnish examples of the former. Many vege- 
tables will be on the border line between the two. 

The composition of vegetables varies in general from 
that of animal foods in that here we have the carbo- 
hydrates largely represented. The chief carbohy- 
drates of vegetables are starch, sugar, and cellulose of 
various types. 

The fact that cellulose forms the framework of the 
plant and that it is within cellulose walls that the 
starch as well as the proteid of the plant are con- 
tained, is important in two ways. While cellulose is 
only slightly digested by human beings (only so 
little of it in young and tender plants really serving 
as a food that the amount may be neglected), it does 
have a more or less important function in furnishing 
the required bulk of food. If one undertakes to live 
wholly upon a vegetable diet, this bulk generally be- 
comes too great; on the other hand, one of the objec- 



VEGETABLES 



121 



tions to an exclusively animal diet is in the absence 
of bulk. Since the digestive juices do not act upon 
cellulose to any extent, and the nutritive portions of 
the vegetables are enclosed within walls of this sub- 




STARCH OF A POTATO ENCLOSED IN CELUL.OSE CELLS. 



stance, the province of cooking is to so change the 
cell wall that the nutritive materials may be set free, 
or the digestive juices penetrate to them. 

We usually speak of softening the cellulose by means 
of cooking. i\pparently what we really do is to dis- 
solve the intercellular substances that bind the walls 
together, and thus make it possible for the cell walls 



Effect of 
Cooking on 
Cellulose 



122 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

to be mechanically ruptured, either in the process of 
cookery or by the pressure exerted in the mouth. Part 
at least of this intercellular substance belongs to the 
pectin group that causes the jelling of fruit juices. 




SWELLING OF THE STARCH. 

Hydration The first process in rendering the starch of the vege- 

table digestible is one of hydration. It is important, 
therefore, that an abundance of water be present when 
starch is cooked. Some vegetables like the potato 
contain so much water, that the necessary amount for 
the starch is supplied within the vegetable itself. The 



VEGETABLES 



123 



grains and other dry vegetables need to have a large 
amount supplied. The swelling^ of the starch grains 
upon hydration is probably an important agent in the 
rupturing of the cellulose cell wall already referred to. 




THE CELL WALLS RUPTURED. 



Sugar is the soluble carbohydrate of the vegetable, 
as starch is the insoluble form in which this nutri- 
ment is stored. Some vegetables, such as carrots, 
show large amounts of sugar, while starch is absent 
from this part of the plant. Other typical vegetables 
containing a large amount of sugar are beets, pars- 



Sugar in 
Vegetables 



Starchy- 
Vegetables 



124 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



nips, artichokes, sweet potato. Onions, cabbage, and 
some varieties of peas, string beans, squash and sweet 
corn all contain a fair amount. 

Veg-etables containing a large amount of starch are 



Proteid of 
Vegetables 





COMPOSITION OF THE CARROT AND TURNIP. 

( After Hutchison ) 

represented by potato, sweet potato, rice, peas, beans 



and lentils. Some vegetables 



containing 



large 



amount of cellulose are squash, potato, beet, celery, 
cabbage. 

As a rule, we do not look to the vegetable world 
for our main supply of proteid, yet some of our vege- 
tables,' notably the legumes, do contain an abundant 



VEGETABLES 



125 



supply of this food principle. Whether this is as avail- 
able for use in the body as the proteid in meat is 
often questioned. With ordinary cooking processes 
it evidently is not, but with long continued heat the 
matter is different. That there is no inherent differ- 
ence betv^een vegetable and animal proteid, so far as 




eo.TboKydrcv.te 
Ccduloie 
Mm Mat 

ExtvACt. 

COMPOSITION OF THE CABBAGE. 
Blackened portions represent amount dissolved in cooking. 



its digestibility is concerned, would seem to be indi- 
cated by the fact that when the vegetable is finely di- 
vided, as in the case of some of the vegetable meals, 
it is absorbed to a greater extent than in its ordinary 
form. It is said, for instance, that when lentils are 
soaked and boiled until soft, 60 per cent of their pro- 
teid is absorbed, while in the lentil meal 90 per cent 
is utilized by the body. No careful experiments have 
been made to see what proportion of the boiled lentils 
would have been absorbed if the cooking had been 
continued for several hours. There is every reason, 



Digestibility 
of Vegetable 
Proteid 



126 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



however, to think that the percentage would be in- 
creased. Anyone who has compared dry peas or beans 
cooked two hours, or until they have just become 
soft, with those cooked from eight to twelve hours 
will realize the difference in the result. 



The 
Potato 



Salts of 
Vegetables 




TAT ^^aj^ 
CRUDE FIBER -^/^ 
PROTEID 
ASH 



COMPOSITION OF THE POTATO. 

Among the vegetables, the potato, in this country 
at least, is the most generally used. It has of late 
been decried as having no food value. This is far 
from true. It has, of course, a small amount of pro- 
teid, some of which is lost in the process of cooking. 
Its mineral salts are less in amount than in many vege- 
tables, and are partially lost in the cooking. Its chief 
value as food lies in the starch it contains, and in the 
fact that its very absence of strong flavor makes it 
acceptable day after day. 

Vegetables should be in our diet not only for their 
food value but for their mineral salts as well. The 
bad efifect of the failure to use a certain proportion 
of vegetables and fruits, has long been known. Scurvy 
has usually been attributed to this error in diet, while 
it is quite possible that some minor disorders of the 



VEGETABLES 



127 



digestion are attributable to the same cause. Cabbage, 
lettuce, celery, onion, spinach and the different leaves 
used as greens find their value almost wholly in the 
presence of mineral salts. 

Alushrooms have often been considered of great 
value, from the proteid they contain, but it seems cer- 
tain now that this value has been much exaggerated, 



Mushrooms 




SECTION OF A POTATO. 

a — Outer Skin, d — Inner Skin or Fibro-vascular Layer. 
d — Inner Flesh. 



-Flesh. 



and that the reason for using them as articles of food 
lies in their pleasant flavor and the variety they give, 
rather than in the amount of nutriment they furnish 
the system. 

The digestibility of different vegetables must always 
be difficult to ascertain, so far as any one individual 
is concerned. Not only the presence of cellulose, but 



Digestihility 
of Vegetables 



128 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



of acids, as in the tomato, of nitrogeneous substances, 
such as asparagin found in asparagus, and of vola- 
tile flavors, as in the onion, all affect this question. 
There has been within a few years a great gain in 
the abundance and variety of vegetables available. 
Formerly in winter choice was confined to cabbage. 




COMPOSITION OF THE CUCUMBER. 



turnip, squash, onions and a few others. Now a visit 
to the market of a large city, even at the least promis- 
ing time of year, shows an overwhelming variety of 
fresh vegetables. If we add to these the numerous 
canned vegetables of excellent quality available (and 
these are increasing in variety constantly) and the 
dried vegetables, like the peas, beans and mushrooms 
even, that are obtainable, we have no excuse for limit- 
ing our diet so far as vegetables are concerned. 

True economy will consist not in cutting down the 
supply but in choosing fresh vegetables at the time 
when each is most abundant and therefore cheapest, 
and presumably at its best, and in supplementing these 
by the judicious use of the canned or dried product, 
not forgetting the ordinary winter vegetables. 



VEGETABLES 
Average Composition of Vegetables 



129 



Name 



Beans, dried.... 
Beans, string.. .. 

Peas, dried 

Peas, green 

Potatoes 

Sweet Potatoes. 

Sweet Corn 

Parsnips 

Carrots 

Beets 

Turnips 

Onions 

Cabbage 

Spinach 

Squash 

Tomatoes 

Lettuce 

Celery 

Cucumbers 






Percentage Composition of 
Edible Portion 



pi 



o 

u 

03 

o 



7.0 



45.0 
20.0 
20.0 
61.0 
20.0 
20.0 
20.0 
30.0 
10.0 
15.0 



50.0 



15.0 
20.0 
15.0 



12.6 
89.2 
9.5 
74.6 
78.3 
69.0 
75.4 
83.0 
88.2 
87.5 
89.6 
87.6 
91.5 
92.3 
88.3 
94.3 
94.7 
94.5 
95.4 



55.2 

5.5 

57.5 

15.2 

18.0 

26.1 

19.2 

11.0 

8.2 

8.8 

6.8 

9.1 

4.5 

2.3 

8.2 

3.3 

2.2 

2.3 

2.4 



P^ 



4.4 
1.9 
4.5 
1.7 

.4 
1.3 

.5 
2.5 
1.1 

.9 
1.3 



1.1 

.9 



.9 

1.0 

.5 



22.5 
2.3 

24.6 
7.0 
2.2 
1.8 
3.1 
1.6 
1.1 
1.6 
1.3 
1.6 



1.6 
2.1 
1.4 

.9 
1.2 
1.1 

.8 



1.8 


3.5 


.3 


.8 


1.0 


2.9 


.5 


1.0 


.1 


1.0 


.7 


1.1 


1.1 


.7 


.5 


1.4 


.4 


1.0 


.1 


1.1 





.8 


.3 


.6 


.3 


1.0 


.3 


2.1 


.5 


.8 


.4 


.5 


.3 


.7 


.1 


1.0 


2 


.7 



1,605 

195 

1,655 

465 

385 

570 

470 

300 

210 

215 

185 

225 

145 

110 

215 

105 

90 

85 

80 



*Not including fiber. 

tincluding fiber and thus higher than fuel value available in the body. 



The substances grouped under carbohydrates in the above 
table are chiefly starch, sugar and pectose bodies. Church 
states that turnips contain no starch or sugar, only pectose, 
but one of the analyses of the Department of Agriculture 
showed one sample to contain over 4% of sugar. The carrot 
contains sugar and pectose, but no starch; parsnips, sugar, 
starch and pectose. The nitrogenous matter is only in part 
proteid ; in potatoes about 57% ; in carrots, onions, cabbage, 
cucumbers, lettuce, about one-half. 



FRUITS 



Classiflcation 
of Fruits 



Dietetic 
Value 



Nutritive 
Value 



Fruits may, like vegetables, be classified as flavor 
fruits and food fruits, and again these two classes will 
run together so that we shall have difficulty in decid- 
ing where certain ones belong. The apple, the orange, 
the strawberry, although all having a certain food 
value, are used so largely for their flavor and to give 
variety, that these may well be put under the head 
of the flavor fruits. Bananas form, perhaps, the best 
common example of the food fruits. Bread fruit, so 
largely used in the tropics, is another representative 
of this class. 

From a dietetic standpoint the most important func- 
tion of fruits is that of furnishing mineral salts and or- 
ganic acids to the body. The potash salts are consid- 
ered especially important. Some fruits, Hke the pine- 
apple, contain ferments that are said to be aids to 
digestion. Fruits are generally laxative in effect, — 
apples, figs, prunes, peaches and berries are particu- 
larly effective in this respect, especially if taken be- 
tween meals or at the beginning of a meal. 

Their chief nutritive value is given to fruits by the 
carbohydrate group. This is largely in the form of 
sugar, while the remainder consists chiefly of vege- 
table gums, among which may be included the ''pectin 
bodies" that give to fruits their power to form jelly. 
Starch may be present in unripe fruits, but disappears 
as the fruit ripens. Bananas, as we use them, contain 
a small amount of starch. Of fresh fruits very few 
contain more than one per cent of nitrogenous maX- 
ter, not all of which is proteid. 

130 



FRUITS 



131 



Dried fruits may be without question put under the 
food fruits, dates containing sixty-six per cent of 
carbohydrate, prunes approximately the same amount, 
figs about sixty-three per cent, while raisins furnish 
seventy-five per cent. Raisins in this respect stand 
almost at the head of the list of concentrated foods 
since thev furnish so much nutriment in so small a 



Dried 
Fruits 




WATER 



PROTEIO 
FAT. 

CARBOMVORATE 
MIN. MAT. 
ACIOS 
CELLULOSE 



COMPOSITION OF AN APPLE. 

(, After Hutchison. J 

bulk. When fresh fruits are not obtainable dried 
fruits may well take their place. These are usually 
less expensive than fresh fruits, and properly cooked 
go far to make up for the absence of the fresh varie- 
ties. 

Canned fruits are increasingly used, and many who 
formerly thought it necessary to put up large amounts 
of fruit at home, are now purchasing those canned on 
a commercial scale. \Miether this is a wise thing or 



Canned 
Fruits 



Varieties 



132 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

not depends on the amount of fruit available for the 
housekeeper at a low cost, the price of sugar, and the 
time and strength at her disposal. Often the fruit 
commercially canned is really superior to that pre- 
pared at home for the reason that the canning is done 
where the fruit is easily obtainable in its freshest and 
most perfect condition. When canned fruit is as rea- 
sonable in cost as it is at present, the housekeeper 
should certainly be very sure that her time cannot be 
used to better advantage before she undertakes to 
prepare quantities of fruit at home. 

Perhaps no article of diet has increased in use dur- 
ing the last few years so rapidly as fruits. Not only 
the most hardy, but the more perishable varieties, in- 
cluding berries, are by improved methods of transpor- 
tation, by the use of refrigerator cars and by increased 
areas of cultivation made available through a longer 
season, and at greater distances from the source of 
supply than ever before. The fruit industries, includ- 
ing the cultivation of the fruit, the great canning and 
drying establishments, and the transportation of the 
product, have become of immense importance in the 
commercial world, 
jj-g^ New varieties of fruit produced by careful selection 

and cross fertilization are constantly appearing. Some 
of the most important changes that have been induced 
by cultivation have been the lessening of the proportion 
of cellulose, the production of seedless varieties, the 
increase in size and the development of fine flavors. 



FRUITS 133 

As in the case of vegetables, the digestibihty of 
fruits is largely an individual matter. Bananas may 
be eaten freely by many, even by children, while oth- 
ers fail to digest even a small portion. Strav^berries, 
generally considered easily digested, are actual poison 
to some people. The chief benefit of a table of digesti- 
bility is as a guide for experimentation. In feeding a 
child, for instance, one would try first the fruits con- 
sidered most digestible. 

Aside from the personal equation, ease in mastica- Digestibility 
tion is one of the important elements in the digestion 
of fruits, as in the case of other foods. The banana, 
for instance, easily slips down the throat in large 
pieces ; the blueberry can be swallowed whole, while 
such a fruit as the apple is naturally more thoroughly 
masticated, for ease in sw^allowing^ and the orange 
almost falls apart of itself. 

The difference in the digestibility of ripe and unripe 
fruits is generally attributed to the larger proportion 
of cellulose in the latter ; this and the excess of acids 
in unripe varieties is held responsible for their ill 
effects. 

Gilman Thomson gives among the commoner fruits 
easy of digestion : grapes, oranges, lemons, cooked 
apples, figs, peaches, strawberries and raspberries ; 
while he classifies as somewhat less digestible : melons, 
prunes, raw apples, pears, apricots, bananas and fresh 
currants. Dried currants and citron he considers 
"wholly indigestible," while he gives as the most use- 



134 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



ful fruits for invalids : lemons, oranges, baked apples, 
stewed prunes, grapes, banana meal. 

Young children and those of delicate digestion 
should avoid all skin and seeds of fruit. 



Average Composition of Fruits 









Percentage Composition of 






tfi 






Edible Portion 














to 














«4-l 




T3 

O 

O 
* 




13 
u 


tn 


en 
< 


o 


Bananas 


35. 


75.3 


21.0 


1.0 


1.3 


.6 


.8 


460 


Grapes 


25. 


77.4 


14.9 


4.3 


1.3 


1 


6 


.5 


450 


Plums 


5. 
5. 


78.4 
80.9 


20.1 
16.5 


V 

9 


1.0 
1.0 






.5 

.6 


395 


Cherries 




8 


365 


Huckle berries 




81.9 


16.6 


V 


.6 




6 


.3 


345 


Apples 


25. 


84.6 


13.0 


1.2 


.4 




5 


.3 


290 


Pears 


10. 


84.4 


11.4 


2.7 


.6 




5 


.4 


295 


Black berries 





86.3 


8.4 


2.5 


1.3 


1 





.5 


270 


Apricots 

Peaches 


6. 


85 


13.4 


9 


1.1 






.5 


270 


6. 
27. 


85.0 
86.9 


10.5 
11.6 


9 


.5 

.8 






.6 
.5 




Oranges 




2 


240 


Raspberries (red) 

Cranberries 


? 


85.8 


9.7 


2.9 


1.0 






.6 


255 


30"."" 


88.9 
89.3 
89.3 


8.4 
7.4 
9.3 


1.5 
1.1 

.4 


.4 

1.0 

.4 




6 

7 
3 


.2 
.5 
3 


215 


Lemons 


205 


Pineapple 


200 


Muskmellon 


50. 
5. 


89.5 
90.4 


7.2 
6.0 


2.1 
1.4 


.6 
1.0 






.6 
.6 


185 


Strawberries 




6 


180 


Watermelon 


60. 


92.4 


6.7 


'i 


.4 




') 


.3 


140 











* Not including fiber, 
t Including fiber. 

The carbohydrates of fruits are chiefly in the form of sugar. 
Nearly all contain pectin bodies and these are most abundant 
in unripe fruit. The acids of the fruits are here included un- 
der the carbohydrates . Apples, pears and peaches contain 
malic acid; lemons and oranges, citric acid; grapes, tartaric 
acid ; rhubarb, oxalic acid, etc. 



FRUITS 

Average Composition of Dried Fruits 



135 



Dates.. .. 
Raisins.. 
Currants 

Figs 

Prunes .. 
Apples. . . 
Apricots. 



tf 



10.0 
10.0 



15.0 



Percentage Composition of 
Edible Portion 



15 4 
14.6 
17.2 

18.8 
22.3 
28.1 
29.4 



© 








-u 


Cfi 






03 
t3 


S 







>> 


0} 


-t.3 


xi 


^ 


tc 


a 


en 




.a 





f^ 


< 










cfl 










Ih; 






78.4 


2.1 


2.8 


1.3 


76.1 


2.6 


3.3 


3.4 


74.2 


2.4 


1.7 


4.5 


74.2 


4.3 


.3 


2.4 


73.3 


2.1 




2.3 


66.1 


1.6 


2.2 


2.1 


62.5 


4.7 


1.0 


2.4 



1,615 
1,605 
1.495 
1,475 
1,400 
1,350 
1,290 



* Including fiber. 



NUTS 



Nutritive 
Value 



The form of fruits that we know as nuts has a very 
different place in diet from that of the ordinary fruit. 
We find here foods having a nutritive value that com- 
pares favorably with that of the most nutritious sub- 
stances. Almond kernels for instance contain twenty- 
one per cent of proteid, fifty-four of fat, and seventeen 

PFtOTElD 



f^AT 



74r4^ ,,,//6ARB0HyDFfATS 
■ Va^^ MIN. MAT. 

X&LUUUOdE. 

COMPOSITION OF AN ENGLISH WALNUT. 

of carbohydrates, while peanuts are richer still in pro- 
teid and also contain a large amount of fat. Indeed, 
nuts often may well be substituted for meat, and have 
the advantage that they supply at the same time a 
certain amount of carbohydrates. Some nuts, as chest- 
nuts, are very rich in the latter. The table given is 
taken from the experiment station bulletin. Nuts as 
Food, and shows the composition of some of the most 
common nuts. ise 




NUTS 
Average Composition of Nuts 



137 





S 
^ 

^ 


Percentage Composition 
Edible Portion 


OF 




0) 


a 

o 

u 
Hi 




en 

03 

'O 
>> 

M 

XI 

c8 

u 


en 


-2 

tn 

.2 

13 
o 


Almonds 

Brazil Nut s 

Filberts 

Hickory Nuts 


64.8 
49.6 
52.1 
62.2 
49.7 
58.0 
16.1 
86.4 
48.8 


4.8 
2.7 
3.7 
1.4 
2.9 
2.8 
31.0 
.6 
7.2 
3.5 
4.2 
9.3 
1.6 
2.0 


21.0 

8.6 

15.6 

5.8 

10.3 

16.7 

5.7 

3.8 

2.9 

6.3 

22.6 

27.9 

30.5 

29.3 


51.9 
33.6 
65.3 
25.5 
70.8 
64.4 
6.7 
8.3 
25.9 
57.3 
54.5 
42.0 
49.2 
46.6 


17.3 

3.5 

13.0 

4.3 

14.3 

14.8 

39.0 

.5 

14.3 

31.6 

15.6 

18.7 

16.2 

17.1 


2.0 

2.0 

2.4 

.8 

1.7 

1.3 

1.5 

.4 

.9 

1.3 

3.1 

2.1 

2.5 

5.0 


3030 
1545 
3290 
1265 


Pecans 

Walnuts 


3445 
3305 


Chestnuts 

Butternuts 

Cocoanuts 

Cocoanuts. shredded 

Pistachio 


1115 
430 
1415 
3125 
3010 


Peanut.^ 

Roasted Peanuts 

Peanut Butter 


26.4 
32.6 


2640 
2955 
2830 



Much has been said about the indigestibility of nuts, 
but this probably comes largely from the fact that 
nuts are most usually eaten at the end of a hearty 
meal after the appetite has been completely satisfied. 
If nuts were more often taken as a substitute for a 
part of the meat of the meal, there would probably 
be less difficulty with regard to their digestion. An- 
other important factor in their digestibility as in the 
case of other foods, is that of their finely divided con- 
dition ; often they are insufficiently masticated. Some 
of the nut meals and pastes on the market are valuable 
because of their fine division, and their use as a meat 
substitute certainly has a rational basis. Peanut but- 
ter is the most common of these preparations. 



Digestibility 
of Nuts 



TEA, COFFEE AND COCOA 

The common beverages, tea, cofTee and cocoa, are in 
such- general use today that it is difficult to realize 
that two of them were not introduced into Europe 
until the seventeenth century, and the other only a 
hundred years earlier, though other nations had known 
them long before. Tea drinking began in Japan in 
692 A. D., while coffee, though not known to the 
Greeks and Romans, had been used in Abyssinia and 
Ethiopia from time immemorial. 
Varieties The tea plant seems to be a native of Assam, a prov- 

of T6& 

ince of Burmah, but it has been grown in China and 
Japan for fifteen hundred years. Two different types 
of the plant are illustrated by the Assamese and Chi- 
nese varieties. The tea of Assam grows luxuriantly, 
but is sensitive to drought, cold or winds. Its leaves 
are of bright green, sometimes reaching a size of nine 
inches in length and three in width, while the young 
leaf is of soft texture and golden color.. It may pro- 
duce as many as twenty "flushes," or successive crops 
of young leaf during each picking season. The Chi- 
nese plant is tough and hardy, able to endure severi- 
ties of climate, and to grow in poor soil with deficient 
moisture. The leaf is smaller, tougher and darker 
than that of the Assam tea plant. Between these two 
extremes exist all varieties of tea. Most varieties 
produce three or four crops a year. 

The tea plant produces small white flowers which 
eventually yield the seed from which cultivated tea is 

138 



TEA 



139 



raised. In cultivating the plant an effort is made to 
produce abundant young leaf, since good tea is made 
from this alone. Pekoe tea is the choicest variety. 
The undeveloped bud at the end of a young shoot is 



Pekoe 
Tea 




TEA LEAVES. 



a — Flowery Pekoe. 6 — Orange Pekoe, c— Pekoe. </— SouchoL-g (first). 
e — Souchong (second). /—Congou. //— Bohea. 

called the pekoe tip, or flowery pekoe. It is said that 
this tea rarely comes to this country. From it is made 
Mandarin tea, that commands a very high price in its 
native country. The next leaves produce orange pekoe 
and pekoe. Souchong is the next larger leaf and Con- 
gou the next. A still larger leaf formerly on the mar- 
ket more generally than now yields Bohea. 



Souchong 
Tea 



140 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Black 
and 

Green 
Tea 



Fermentation 
Process 



Names 



All of these different varieties may be made either 
into black or green tea, though some plants yield 
leaves better adapted for the manufacture of black 
tea, and some that serve better for green. Japan tea, 
for example, is usually made into green, v^^hile the 
Indian are generally black. Chinese tea provides both 
varieties. The difference between black and green 
tea is, however, in the method of preparation. Green 
tea is prepared by withering the leaves in iron vessels 
over a quick fire, or by steaming them on mats. The 
leaf is then rolled in order to break up the tissue con- 
taining the essential oil. It is then re-heated and sub- 
jected to long continued drying over a low fire. In 
black tea the fresh leaf is spread out to wilt in the 
sun, then rolled, spread out thinly, moistened and 
allowed to ferment. The leaves are then dried and 
fired in a furnace or over a charcoal fire. 

The chief difference between the black and green tea 
lies in this fermentation process. By this means, some 
of the tannic acid in the leaves is changed so that it 
becomes less soluble. The blaek tea is thus less as- 
tringent than the green. Common varieties of green 
tea are hyson, corresponding to the pekoe or sou- 
chong, and gunpowder, corresponding to congou. 

Aside from the varieties given by the stage of 
growth at which the leaf is plucked and by the method 
of preparation, teas are named from the different 
countries or the special district that produces them, 
or even from the gardens where they are grown. 



TEA 



141 



Japan, Chinese, Indian and Ceylon teas each have their 
own marked characteristics, while the different dis- 
tricts of China give various kinds, as the oolongs 
from Formosa or the monings from north China. 

The quality is dependent on the cultivation of the 
plant, the age of the leaf, and the care in manufacture. 
Some of the finest tea of China is so high priced that 
it can be purchased there only by the very rich, while 
the lowest grades are often made into bricks (brick 
tea) and sent into the interior. The choicest Japan tea 
is raised under protection from direct sunlight and is 
prepared without rolling. It is said to be untouched 
with the hand after it is put upon the steaming appara- 
tus. Most of the teas sent to the United States might 
be classed as low middling, with some superior grades. 
The choice varieties are rarely received. 

The most important constituents of tea are theine, 
or caffeine, tannic acid and the volatile oil that gives 
the flavor. Black and green tea contain practically 
the same amount of oil and caffeine, but black tea has 
only about half as much tannic acid as green. 

The method of making tea has an important influ- 
ence on the constituents of the beverage. Methods 
vary all the way from one Japanese fashion of stir- 
ring the finely ground tea into warm water and drink- 
ing the whole infusion, to the Russian method of 
bringing the water just to a boil and making a deli- 
cate infusion. 

The boiling of tea and the practice of keeping the 



Quality 



Composition 



Method 
of Making 



142 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

teapot on the stove all day that the brew may be ready 
at any moment, each results in extracting the largest 
possible amount of tannic acid from the tea. If tea 
must stand after making, it should be poured off the 
leaves immediately. The difference in extract can be 
easily seen if equal amounts of tea be in one case 
boiled four or five minutes, in another allowed to 
stand in cold water, and in a third infused in hot water 
for the same length of time. If these three results be 
put into glasses, the depth of color will indicate the 
difference in material extracted. If a solution of ordi- 
nary copperas be made, and a few drops of this added 
to each, a black, inky substance, a tannate of iron, 
will form, the amount varying with the tannic acid ex- 
tracted. 

Adulteration Adulterations of tea are much less common than 

formerly. The chief fraud practiced is that of sub- 
stituting an inferior grade for a better. One method 
of doing this is by facing the tea. This is practiced 
especially on green teas, giving them a brighter color. 

Occasionally spent or exhausted leaves are mixed 
with fresh ones, thus constituting an adulteration. 

Tea tablets are sometimes prepared for the use of 
travelers by pressing finely ground tea of varying 
quality into tablets to be dissolved in hot water. 



of Tea 



COFFEE 



The coffee tree (caffaea arabica) belongs to the 
same botanical family as the tiny partridge berry- 
found in our northern woods, the familiar button 
bush of the country roadside, and the gardenia. 




COFFEE BEANS AND BLOSSOMS. 

It is native to Abyssinia, western Africa, and per- 
haps western Arabia, though it has now been nat- 
uralized in a large number of tropical countries. It 
blooms eight months in the year and with its small 
fragrant, white blossoms in the axils of the glossy 

143 



Native 
Home 



144 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Roasting 



Preparation 



Constituents 



evergreen leaves, it presents an attractive appearance. 
The ripe coffee berry is dark in color and is a pulpy 
fruit, somewhat resembling a cherry. The berries 
have two cells, each containing a single seed, the 
coffee bean. Three gatherings of coffee are generally 
made annually. The ripe fruit is dried and then freed 
from skin and pulp, usually by machinery. 

In the east a decoction is frequently made of the 
unroasted seeds, while in some places the leaf of the 
tree is used for preparing a drink ; and it is said that 
in the Sultan's coffee the dried ptUp of the berry is 
employed. 

The roasting of coffee so generally practiced, is 
chiefly for the purpose of developing its flavor and 
rendering the beans brittle so that they can be more 
easily ground, though it has other effects also. Coffee 
is imported from Mocha, Java, Ceylon, Maracaibo, 
Porto Rico, and other countries. But 75 per cent of 
that used in this country comes from Brazil. Our 
Mocha and Java mixtures are simply different kinds 
of berries from the same plant. 

Coffee, unlike tea, may properly be prepared either 
as an infusion or a decoction ; that is, it may be ex- 
tracted without boiling, or it may be boiled. 

The important constituents of coffee are caffeine 
and caffetannic acid, and caffeol, the oil that gives the 
fragrant aroma and flavor. Caffeol is developed by 
the process of roasting while the amount of caffeine 
is lessened. Sugar is present in considerable amounts. 




PICKING COFFEE BERRIES. 



146 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



and most of this is caramelized in the roasting. Fat 
also is found, sometimes to as much as 15 per cent, 
and proteid to about 10 per c.ent. A comparison of 
the composition of tea and coffee is given below : 

Percentage Composition of Coffee 

Raw. Roasted. 
Moisture 8.98 0.63 

Caffeine 1.08 0.82 

Saccharine matter 9.55 0,43 

Caffeic acid 8.46 4.74 

Alcoholic extract 6.90 I4-I4 

• Fat and oil 12.60 13-59 

Lugumin and albumen 9.87 Ji-23 

Dextrin '. 0.87 1.24 

Cellulose and insoluble coloring 

matter 37.95 48.62 

Ash 3.74 4-5*^ 



Composition 
of Decoctions 



Percentage Composition of Tea 

Unprepared Green Black 

Leaves. Tea. Tea. 

Caffeine or theine •. 3.30 3.20 3.30 

Ether extract 6.49 5.52 5.82 

Hot-water extract 50.97 53-74 47,23 

Tannin (as gallotannic acid).. 12. 91 10.64 4-89 

Other nitrogen-free extract. .. .27.86 31-43 35-39 

Crude protein ^7-32, 37-43 38-90 

Crude fibre 10.44 10.06 10.07 

Ash 4-97 4-92 4-93 

Nitrogen 5.97 5.99 6.22 

This does not give a fair estimate of the composi- 
tion of the drmks since we use more coffee to the cup 




COFFEE BERRY AND LEAF, NATURAL SIZE 
From Bulletin No. 25, Division of Botany, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



COFFEE . 147 

than tea. Hutchison finds that a cup of black coffer 
contains nearly the same amount of caffeine and tan- 
nin as a cup of tea. This depends, of course, very 
largely upon the methods of preparation. It is gen- 
erally considered that with our ordinary methods that 
less tannin is present in coffee than in tea. 

The adulterants of coifee are many. One of the Adulterants 
commonest is chicory. In France 'this is often used in 
order to add a desired flavor. Other adulterants that 
have been found are roasted peas, beans, wheat, brown 
bread, charcoal, red slate, and dried pellets consisting 
of ground peas, pea hulls and cereals held togethei 
with molasses. These are met with only in ground 
coffee. Although at one time artificial coifee beans 
were manufactured to some extent, they are said to 
be seldom found today. The adulteration of un- 
ground coffee consists rather of the substitution or 
admixture of cheap or inferior varieties. A simple 
rough test for the detection of adulteration in coffee 
consists in shaking some of the sample in cold water. 
The pure coffee usually floats on the surface while 
most of the adulterants sink, the grains of chicory 
coloring the water a brownish red as they fall. Some- 
times adulteration can be detected if ground coifee is 
spread out upon a paper and examined with a mag- 
nifying glass. A better protection is afforded, how- 
ever, by purchasing the coffee unground. 



COCOA 

It is said that ''the earhest intimation of the intro- 
duction of cocoa into England is found in the an- 
nouncement in the Pubhc Advertiser of Tuesday, 
i6th June, 1657 (more than a hundred and thirty 
years after its introduction into Spain), stating that 
"in Bishopgate street, in Queen's Head alley, at a 
Frenchman's house, is an excellent West India drink^ 
called chocolate, to be sold, where you may have it 
ready at any time ; and also unmade, at reasonable 
rates." 
u^rJf ^^^ spite of this alluring advertisement, it was the 

Cocoa . beginning of the eighteenth century before chocolate 
became a fashionable beverage. And even as late as 
1832 the consumption of cocoa was very limited, ow- 
ing to a large duty that existed up to that time. Long- 
before this it had become a great favorite in Spain as 
it was in Spanish Ameria. In New England a mill 
for the preparation of chocolate was established in 
1765. The chocolate of the early Spanish days must 
have been somewhat different from the modern arti- 
cle. This is one receipt that is given : ''Take a hun- 
dred cocoa kernels, two heads of Chili or long peppers, 
a handful of anise or orjevala, and two of mesachusil 
or vanille — or, instead, six Alexandria roses, pow- 
dered — two drachms of cinnamon, a dozen almonds 
and as many hazelnuts, a half pound of white sugar, 
and annotto enough to color it, and you have the king 
of chocolates." 

148 



COCOA 



149 



The cacao tree (theobroma cacao) from which 
chocolate and cocoa are obtained, is a native of tropi- 
cal America. It grows to an average height of from 
thirteen to twenty, or even thirty feet, with a diam- 
eter of from five to ten inches. A quaint description 
of the appearance of the tree is given in the following 



Cocoa 
Tree 




FLOWER AND FRUIT OF COCOA TREE. 



words : "The cacao-tree almost all the year bears 
fruit of all ages, which ripens successively, but never 
grows on the end of little branches, as our fruits in 
Europe do, but along the trunk and chief boughs, 
which is not rare in these countries, where several 
trees do the like. Such an unusual appearance would 
seem strange in the eyes of Europeans, who have 
never seen anything of that kind ; but, if one examines 
the matter a little, the philosophical reason of the dis- 



Bean 



150 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

position is very obvious. One may easily apprehend 
that if nature had placed such bulky fruit at the ends 
of the branches their great weight must necessarily 
break them, and the fruit would fall before it came to 
maturity." 

Cocoa is raised from seed, and the tree does not bear 
fruit till it has reached the fifth or sixth year. It re- 
quires an abundance of air and light, but must be 
shaded from too much direct sun. This is accom- 
plishd by growing large shade trees at frequent in- 
tervals in the cocoa plantation. 
Cocoa The cocoa beans are the seed of the plant and lie in 

even rows in a pgd not very unlike a large cucumber 
in shape and size. The first step in the preparation 
of cocoa is the removal of the bean from this pod and 
its subjection to a ''sweating" or fermentation pro 
cess. After this the beans are dried in the sun and 
in this form are shipped to our market. 

Beans from different places, Caracas, Trinidad, 
Maracaibo, Java, and others are imported by the 
manufacturer who mixes them in different proportions 
in order to get the result desired. The second step 
in the process of manufacture is the careful roasting 
of the beans to develop the flavor, and the crushing 
or cracking of the nuts and the removal of the thin 
husk or shell with which the seed is covered, by win- 
nowing. The shells are used in many places for the 
preparation of a drink. If they are boiled for a long 
time, a smooth,* oily beverage with a pleasant nutty 




COCOA BELNS. 
Showing Fruit, Flowers and Leaf. 



152 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



flavor is obtained. The cracked cocoa, or cocoa 
nibs, as it is called, is also used for preparing a bev- 




METHOD OF GROWTH OF COCOA. 



erage. A mixture of the shells and nibs gives a very 
satisfactory result. 

The next step in the preparation of chocolate is the 



COCOA 153 

grinding* of the nibs and running the semi-liquid prod- 
uct into molds. If sugar or any flavoring is to be 
added, it is done at this time. 

Cocoa in its purest form is chocolate with part of 
the fat removed. In order that it may stay in a pow 
dered condition, it is necessary either to remove this 
oil or add some form of starchy material. Sometimes 
flavoring materials such as cinnamon or vanilla are 
also added. 

Cocoa, like tea and coffee, contains an alkaloid 
called theobromine. Tannin is also present in the raw 
bean, but is changed during the roasting to cocoa- 
red which gives the -color to the cocoa. A substance 
somewhat like tlie caffeol of coffee is also developed 
during the roasting .process. Cocoa beans also con- 
tain a large amount of fat — about 50 per cent — with 
proteids, starch, and other substances in small amounts. 

Percentage Composition of Cocoa 

Roasted Cocoa Nibs. 
Water 2.72 

Ash 3.32 

Theobromine 1.44 

Other nitrogenous substances 12.12 

Crude fibre 2.64 

Starch 8.07 

Other nitrogen-free substances 19-57 

Fat 50.12 

100.00 
The food value of clear chocolate has never been 
questioned. Perhaps the writer of the eighteenth cen- 



Chocolate 



Theobromine 



154 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

tury who is responsible for the following statements 
may have exaggerated somewhat. He says : 

**In reality, if one examines the nature of chocolate 
a little, with respect to the constitution of aged per- 
sons, it seems as though the one was made on pur- 
pose to remedy the defects of the other, and that it 
is truly the panacea of old age." 

**There lately died at Martinico a counsellor, about 
a hundred years old, who, for thirty years past, lived 
on nothing but chocolate and biscuit. He sometimes, 
Indeed, had a little soup at dinner, but never any fish, 
fiesh, or other victuals. He was, nevertheless, so vig- 
orous and nimble that at fourscore and five he could 
get on horseback without stirrups." 
Food So good a scientist as Liebig says, however: *'It is 
a perfect food, as wholesome as delicious. It is 
highly nourishing and easily digested, and is fitted to 
repair wasted strength, preserve health, and prolong 
life." A simple statement of the case is that we have 
in chocolate a highly concentrated food, particularly 
rich in fat, but containing a fair amount of the other 
food principles. Since it is so concentrated it de- 
mands water in abundance. So far as its digestibility 
is concerned, there is more question. The very pres- 
ence of so much fat means that it is too rich for 
some people, while others can digest it with no dif- 
ficulty. Hutchison tells us that so far as cocoa as a 
drink is concerned the food value is over-estimated, 
since the amount we actually use is small. This de- 



Value 



COCOA 



155 



pends to a large extent upon the manner in which the 
beverage is prepared. The milk and sugar used add 
appreciably to the nutriment, and if we follow Thudi- 
chum's suggestion, we shall have a beverage of high 
food value even if one questions its perfection in other- 
respects. He says : ''Chocolate should be served in 
cups and be of sufficient consistency to be eaten with a 
small spoon, rather than drunk. In this way it was 
used by the Mexicans ; they also ate it with golden 
spoons. We have tasted the combination, and find 
chocolate in a red cup and saucer, to be eaten with a 
golden spoon, aesthetical perfection; both taste and 
sight are much pleased with the combination." 

The possible effect upon digestion of the theobro- 
mine present has not been fully determined. It is a 
substance similar in character to caffeine in coffee 
and tea. These beverages, however, unlike cocoa, 
have no food value. 

The physiological effect upon the system of tea, 
coffee, and cocoa has been much discussed. Of the 
three, cocoa seems to have much less influence either 
in retardmg digestion or as a stimulant, though there 
is reason to think that it is not without stimulating 
effects. 

Tea has a marked influence in lessening the action 
of the saliva, while both tea and coffee retard diges- 
tion, the latter to a less extent than the former. This 
effect seems due to the tannic acid and the volatile 
oil. The caffeine itself favors digestion. Both tea 



Physiological 
Effect of 
Tea, Coffee 
and Cocoa 



IS6 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Personal 
Equation 



Cereal 
Coffee 



and coffee act as stimulants because of the caffeine 
present. It is this that causes them to be so effective 
in lessening the feeling of fatigue. Strong coffee is 
a powerful antidote to narcotics, and is often used 
where a heart stimulant is needed. Coffee and tea 
may, because of the tannic acid and other astringent- 
substances present, prove irritants to the mucous 
membrane of the stomach. This action is greater if 
the stomach is "empty. The stimulating effect also is 
greater if taken upon an empty stomach. 

The effects of coffee and tea seem to be influenced 
largely by the personal equation, and quite opposite 
results are produced in different persons by them; 
while in most people they tend to produce wakeful- 
ness, in others they are conducive to sleep. Some 
people can use one freely and must refrain completely 
from the other. 

The general conclusion from experiment and ob- 
servation seems to be that, taken in moderate quanti- 
ties and at suitable times, they are not injurious to 
the healthy adult, but that those of a feeble digestion, 
or who are nervous, should use them in exceedingly 
small quantities, if at all. Of the two, coffee seems 
to have the least harmful effect in the majority of 
cases. 

On the market at present there are a large number 
of coffee substitutes. Some of them undoubtedly are 
true cereal drinks, and may be used as such, though 
when a large amount of food value is attributed to 



COCOA 157 

them on this account, one cannot help wondering how 
the insoluble substances of the wheat grain can so 
largely be present in the drink made from the treat- 
ment of wheat kernels in water. Some of the so- 
called cereal coffees are said to derive their flavor 
from the volatile oils produced in the roasting of cof- 
fee, while others actually contain coffee. 



ADULTERATION OF FOOD 



Pure Food 
Campaign 



False 
Impressions 



Probably no food question has been so much dis- 
cussed of late, or has appealed so generally to the 
public at large as that of food adulteration. Nearly 
all the states have passed laws providing for more or 
less stringent regulations, and the United States 
Congress has passed a national law and is considering 
further legislation on the same subject. Magazines 
and newspapers have taken up the matter; the wom- 
en's clubs have enthusiastically pressed it and a vigor- 
ous "pure food" campaign has been made. This is 
right and proper; but, either through ignorance, or 
the belief that it is justifiable to do evil that good 
may come, many statements are made that are not 
only sensational in the extreme, but absolutely untrue. 
Others, while not absolutely wrong, convey a distinctly 
false impression. 

Mrs. Abel, in a recent article, calls attention to 
some types of such statements by the following illus- 
tration : 

*'A baby has dined on a candy Easter egg and saus- 
age, and the heading reads 

DEATH FROM COAL TAR COLOR IN 
EASTER CANDY. 
"Now sausage is not exactly an infant food and 
might perhaps have been held responsible for the 
sad result, but sausage is a trite and common thing, 
while chemical colors, bearing such a disagreeable 
name will surely catch the public eye! 

158 



Newspaper 



ADULTERATION OF FOOD 159^ 

"And did we not read one other day that a promi- 
nent hygienist had announced that 450,000 babies die 
yearly in this country of poisoned milk? Few of us 
had access to census reports from which to learn that 
this is a much larger number than die yearly from all 
causes under the ages of five, and perhaps fewer stili 
saw the indignant denial of this official, and learned 
how a truthful and moderate statement can be dis- 
torted." 

One of our most reputable city dailies is responsible 
for the following absurd statement in the report of a 
speech : 

"Dr. Wiley, chief of the national bureau of chemis- 
try, says that nine-tenths of the deaths each year m statements 
this country are due to dyspepsia, generally caused by 
impure food. He declares that the tendency also is to 
shorten the duration of life, and cites figures to show 
that 2,000,000 deaths in the United States in the last 
ten years have been traceable largely to the use of 
bad food. It is the workingman, the poor man, who 
cannot afford to buy the higher priced articles of food, 
who suffers more from these conditions. 

"Viewed from an economic standpoint also, the 
laboring man should be interested. In the report of 
the Kentucky state board of health for last year the 
statement is made that for every dollar spent in the 
purchase of food, 45 cents on the average is paid for 
adulterations." 

"The implication here is even worse than the actual 



i6o FOOD AND DIETETICS 

statement, for while ''impure food" and ''bad food" 
might include water and milk contaminated with ty- 
phoid germs, or food that has been allowed to deteri- 
orate by bacterial action till it is in a dangerous con- 
dition, it is evident that the meaning intended to be 
conveyed is that these phrases mean adulterated food. 
The same paper in a recent editorial makes the ab- 
solutely ungrounded charge that numerous deaths 
have been caused by the presence of coal tar dyes in 
candy. It implies that all manufacturers are actuated 
by greed, and that they care nothing as to the poison- 
ous character of their materials if only they make 
money. 
Glucose A circular advertising a certain breakfast food, 
after dividing glucose into good and bad kinds, in- 
• troduces" the following paragraph, saying that the 
definition is from the dictionary, "Glucose, the 
trade name of a syrup obtained as an uncrystallizable 
residue in the manufacture of glucose proper, and 
containing in addition to some dextrose or glucose, 
also maltose, dextrine, etc. It is used as a cheap 
adulterant of syrups, beers, etc. Thus we learn even 
in this public way that there are harmless and harm- 
ful kinds of glucose." 

The implication is, of course, that glucose is unfit 

for food, and no account is taken of the facts that 

maltose is a sugar perfectly wholesome and digestible, 

. and that dextrine is always an intermediate product in 

the change of starch into sugar, whether this change 



of Adulterants 



ADULTERATION OF FOOD. i6i 

is induced by the action of acid as in the manufacture 
of commercial glucose, or by a ferment as in the 
change of starch into sugar by the saliva. 

No good can come from exaggerated and false 
statements, and it is the business of every woman who 
has to do with the purchasing of foods to so inform 
herself that she shall not be misled. 

We may classify the adulterants of foods, using classification 
the term in a broad sense, under three headings . 
First, additions or substitutions used for the sake of 
cheapening the product ; second, material such as col- 
oring matter, used either to imitate the natural prod- 
uct or to beautify and make more attractive some 
foods; third, preservatives. Of the first class, by far 
the greater number are such as affect the pocketbook 
and not the health. One of the common adulterants 
of spices, for instance, is starch, and this only means 
that vvhen such a spice is used a larger amount is 
needed than would be the case if it were pure. Coffee 
to which has been added chicory or ground peas oi 
beans, or for which has been substituted an artificial 
bean, cannot be said to be less wholesome because of 
this treatment. Cream of tartar, because of its ex- 
pense, is often adulterated, but again the adulterant is 
usually harmless. Butterine substituted for butter 
means the payment on the part of the consumer of a 
large price for an" inexpensive article; but the article 
consumed is in every way as digestible and whole- 
some as if no substitution had been made. This and 



i62 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

many other articles used to adulterate more expensive 
ones, have their own value, and if placed upon the 
market under their own names, might be profitably 
used. There is no reason to think that corn syrup, or 
glucose, with a flavoring of caramel is less wholesome 
than maple syrup, but we all justly object to having 
the former product labelled with the name of the latter 
and sold at its price. 
Correct The crusade against adulterations should then, so 
far as this class is concerned, be directed toward full 
and correct labelling, and against the possibility of 
cheap articles being branded as superior ones or sold 
at the price of the better article. The consumer should 
demand the right to receive the full equivalent for 
money paid, and every effort should be made, not only 
to have right laws passed but to see that frequent 
tests are made of food materials bought in the open 
market, and to compel' manufacturers to make a cor- 
rect statement of the ingredients in their wares. 

On the part of the housekeeper there should be a 
knowledge of materials, and ability to make simple 
tests, while for such tests as imply technical chemical 
knowledge material should be sent to the board of 
health or other experts. Most of all, skill in interpret- 
ing labels should be cultivated. A bottle purporting to 
be vanilla and labelled 

PURE VANILLA, 

Compound 



ADULTERATION OF FOOD 163 

on the face of it is not vanilla, though it may not 
necessarily be a less wholesome article. 

The second kind of materials that we have classed coloring 
as adulterants — the coloring matters, are used gener- 
ally to satisfy a popular demand. Everyone knows 
that fresh butter is seldom of the bright yellow color 
of that on the market, yet few people would purchase 
an uncolored butter. Because in June, under the best 
conditions, butter is yellow, we have come to regard 
that as the only desirable thing. The manufacturer of 
a certain brand of cheese a few years ago made an 
attempt to put an uncolored product on the market, 
though he had formerly used coloring. To his sur- 
prise, he could not sell his cheese. The public, ac- 
customed to a deep orange color in that brand, said 
the white cheese was not "so rich," that it was made 
of skim milk instead of cream., and refused to accept it. 

As soon as the purchasing public has a different 
standard of values the manufacturer will cease to color • 
his products. He will be content to offer properly 
canned tomatoes, even though the color is not as bril- 
liant as that of the fresh fruit, and will put upon the 
market a catsup more attractive though less bright 
than the modern product. He will devise methods of 
canning peas and beans that will change their color 
as little as possible, but will not "green" them to de- 
ceive a credulous public. At the same time, the dis- 
honest manufacturer will have less opportunity to 
conceal the inferiority of poor goods by the addition 
of color. 



i64 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

Coal Tar Color is also used frankly to beautify articles, as in 

^^^ the case of candy, and this seems legitimate when the 
colors are harmless, and the coloring is delicate. In 
this case, as in that of other uses of it, the question 
arises as to the possible harmful effects of the colors 
used. Of late the so-called coal tar dyes have been 
frequently employed, and perhaps because of their 
name much anethema has been directed against them. 
As a matter of fact, most of the coal tar dyes used are 
perfectly harmless, with absolutely no physiological 
effect. They are so strong in coloring power that a 
very minute amount is all that is necessary to give 
the desired result. Some of the coal tar dyes are 
poisonous, and should not be used, though again the 
fact that so small an amount is required to produce 
the effect is a protection. Some vegetable dyes are 
also poison, as well as some of the mineral dyes used 
• . before the coal tar products were available, and both 
of these classes have less coloring power, and so must 
be used in larger quantities. 

That the confectioners are not all ''monsters of 
greed" "reeking" with the desire to make money at 
the cost of the health and Hves of an unsuspecting 
public, is shown by the fact that long lists of harm- 
less and harmful, colors have been made by the Na- 
tional Confectioners' Association, and that the same 
association has offered resolutions for dealers in con- 
fectioners' colors as well for manufacturers of candies, 
urging only the legitimate use of non-poisonous col- 



ADULTERATION OF FOOD 



165 



ors. Legislation and public opinion should unite in 
forbidding the use of any harmful coloring even in 
minute quantities, and careful investigation should be 
made and lists of safe colors presented. An educated 
public will see no beauty in crude and vivid colors 
and will demand only the most delicate shades in 
candies and similar products, and this will mean less 
coloring of any kind. 

As to the use of preservatives in food, there is an 
honest difference of opinion among experts. It is 
contended by many that in proper amounts and under 
proper regulation they are a desirable safe-guard, 
since they keep in a fresh and wholesome condition 
foods that would otherwise deteriorate. The amounts 
necessary are so small that they would seem presum- 
ably to have no effect on the users. On the other 
hand, the user may not be a healthy adult, but an in- 
fant or an invalid, presenting quite a different prob- 
lem. In most cases a little more care would keep the 
food in proper condition without the resort to doubt- 
ful means. 

The two sides of the case are stated as follows in 
the government pamphlet giving the result of the 
famous borax experiment. 

'Tt is admitted by all who have examined the sub- 
ject in a critical way, even by the users of preserva- 
tives, that in certain maximum quantities the limit of 
toleration is reached in each individual and positive 
injury is done. But it is also well recognized that 



Preservatives 



Government 
Statement 



i66 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

many, if not all, of the usual foods when used in large 
excess produce injurious results. The many cases of 
disease produced by overeating, or by eating im- 
properly prepared or poorly cooked foods, or by eat- 
ing at unusual times, are illustrations of this fact. 
Upon this basis and upon the further statement that 
when used in extremely small quantities the preserva- 
tives in question cannot be regarded as harmful, is 
founded the principal argument in favor of the use 
of the preservatives, aside from the fact that the 
foods themselves are kept in a better and more whole- 
some state.'' 
Small . "It would be useless to contend that the occasional 
Quan 1 les consumption of small quantities of boric acid in a 
sausage, in butter, or in preserved meat would pro- 
duce, even upon delicate stomachs, any continuing 
deleterious effect which could be detected by any of 
the means at our disposal, but naturally it seems that 
this admission does not in any way justify the indis- 
criminate use of this preservative in food products, 
implying, as it would, the equal right of all other 
preservatives of a like character to exist in food 
products without restriction. 

"It appears, therefore, that there is no convincing 
force in the argument for the use of small quantities 
unless it can be established that there is only a single 
preservative used in foods, that this preservative is 
used in only a few foods, that it will be consumed in 
extremely minute quantities, and that the foods in 



ADULTERATION OF FOOD 



167 



which it is found are consumed at irregular intervals 
and in small quantities. On the other hand, the logi- 
cal conclusion which seems to follow from the data 
at our disposal is that boric acid and equivalent 
amounts of borax in certain quantities should be re- 
stricted to those cases where the necessity therefor 
is clearly manifest, and where it is demonstrable that 
other methods of food preservation are not applicable 
and that without the use of such a preservative the 
deleterious eiifects pro'duced by the foods themselves, 
by reason of decomposition, would be far greater than 
could possibly come from the use of the preservative 
in minimum quantities. In these cases it would also 
follow, apparently, as a matter of public information 
and especially for the protection of the young, the 
sick, and the debditated, that each article of food 
should be plainly labeled and branded in regard to the 
character and quantity of the preservative employed.'" 

Many more experiments need to be conducted be- 
fore we know the truth in the matter of preservatives. 
Meanwhile most careful supervision of their use 
should be exercised when they are allowed at all, and 
every efifort should be directed toward securing clean- 
ly processes of food preparation, and such good condi- 
tions that no preservatives should be needed other 
than the ordinary ones of salt, sugar, spices, with the 
processes of smoking and sterilization. 

The most common preservatives in general use are 



Conclusion 



More 

Experiments 

Needed 



Tests 



i68 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

formaldehyde, salicylic acid, benzoic acid, baking soda, 
borax and boric acid. 
Home Some of the simpler tests for food adulterants can 

be successfully used by the housekeeper even without 
technical training. 

The following methods of distinguishing between 
butter, oleomargarine and renovated butter are taken 
from the farmers' bulletin on the subject: 

The Spoon Test for Butter 

In the kitchen the test may be conducted as fol- 
lows : Using as the source of heat an ordinary kero- 
sene lamp, turned low and with chimney off, melt the 
sample to be tested (a piece the size of a small chest- 
nut) in an ordinary tablespoon, hastening the process 
wuth a splinter of wood (for example, a match). Then, 
increasing the heat, bring to as brisk a boil as possible, 
and after the boiling has begun, stir the contents of 
the spoon thoroughly, not neglecting the outer edges, 
two or three times at intervals during the boiling — 
always shortly before the boiling ceases. In the labor- 
atory a test tube, a spoon, or sometimes a small tin 
dish, is used in making this test. From the last- 
named utensils the test is often called the ''spoon 
test," and sometimes the ''pan test." 

A gas flame, if available, can be used perhaps more 
conveniently than a kerosene lamp. 

Oleomargarine and renovated butter boil noisily, 
sputtering (more or less) like a mixture of grease 
and water when boiled, and produce no foam, or but 



ADULTERATION OF FOOD 169 

very little. Renovated butter produces usually a very 
small amount. 

Genuine butter boils usually with less noise, and 
produces an abundance of foam. 

To Distinguish Oleomargarine from Genuine and Renovated Butter 

Utensils Required. — The utensils required in the 
test to distinguish oleomargarine from renovated and 
genuine butters are as follows : 

(i) A one-half pint tin "measuring cup," common 
in kitchen use, marked at the half and quarters ; or a 
plain one-half pint tin measure, ordinary narrow form , 
or an ordinary small tin cup, 2^ inches in diameter 
and 2 inches in height, holding about one gill and a 
half. 

(2). A common kitchen pan, about 9^ inches m 
diameter at the base. 

(3). A small rod of wood, of the thickness of a 
match and of convenient length for stirring. 

(4). A clock or watch. 

The Process. — The process for distinguishing oleo- 
margarine from renovated and genuine butters is as 
follows : 

Use sweet skimmed milk, obtained by setting fresh 
milk in a cool place for twelve to twenty-four hours 
and removing cream as fully as possible. Half fill 
with this milk the halT-pint cup or measure, or two- 
thirds fill the smaller cup mentioned, measuring accu- 



170 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

rately the gill of milk when possible ; heat nearly to boil- 
ing, add a slightly rounded teaspoonful of the butter or 
butter substitute, stir with the wooden rod, and con- 
tinue heating until the milk ''boils up," remove at once 
from the heat and place in the pan (arranged while 
milk and fat are heating), containing pieces of ice 
with a very little ice water, the ice to be mostly in 
pieces of the size of one to two hens' eggs (not 
smaller, as small fragments melt too rapidly) and 
sufficient in quantity to cover two-thirds of the bottom 
of the pan ; the water to be in quantity sufficient, 
when the cup is first placed in the pan, to reach on 
the outside of the cup to only one-fourth the height of 
the milk within ; any water in excess of that amount 
must be removed. (This refers to the condition at 
the beginning of the cooling; later, as the ice melts, 
the water will rise to a higher level.) Stir t'ne con- 
tents of the cup rather rapidly, with a rotary and a 
cross-wise motion in turn, continuously throughout 
the test, except during the moment of time required 
for each stirring of the ice and watev in the pan, 
which must be done thoroughly once every minute by 
the clock. ■ This is done by moving the cup about, in 
a circle, following the edge of the pan. Proceed in 
this manner for ten minutes, unle^s before that time 
the fat has gathered or has allowed itself to be easily 
gathered in a lump or a soft ma^s, soon hardening. If 
it so gathers, the sample is oleomargarine ; if not, it is 
either genuine or renovated butter." 



ADULTERATION OF FOOD 171 

It will be seen that by trying both of these tests 
one may determine wnich of the three a suspected 
sample of butter really is. 

A method of determining the presence of coal tar 
dyes in foods has been given in the following words 
by a recent writer : 

"Suppose that some cheap currant jelly is to be ex- Test for 
amined. Stir up about one-fourth of the contents of colors 
the tumbler of jelly with about a pint of water in an 
agate stewpan. Take a piece of white woolen cloth 
about five or six inches square and wet it thoroughly 
with boiling water. . Care should be taken that it is 
''all wool," and white is better than cream color. 
Nun's veiling is an excellent thing to use. Immerse 
the cloth in the diluted jelly and boil it on the stove 
for five or ten minutes, stirring it frequently with a 
small wooden stick. Then removes it and wash well in 
boiling water. If a dye has been used in the jelly 
the cloth will be brightly colored. 

"Natural colors impart to the wool, when treated in 
this way, only a dull pinkish-brown color, quite dif- 
ferent from the brilliant color of the artificial dye. 
In order to be absolutely certain, however, it is best 
to take the dyed wool and boil it with about a table - 
spoonful of ordinary household ammonia in half a 
pint of water. After boiling for five minutes, remove 
the wool, and if the ammonia is colored add to it a 
third of a cupful of vinegar, immerse it in a second 
piece of the white woolen cloth and boil it as before. 
Any color that is imparted to the second piece of 



Test 



172 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

cloth IS the anaHne dye, which was dissolved off by 
the ammonia. The natural color would not be re- 
moved from the first cloth by the ammonia, hence 
would not dye on the second piece. The coloring can 
be boiled out of sausages and dyed on wool in the 
same way." 

''Another interesting way of showing the presence 
Gelatine of these dyes, especially in beverages, is to dye them 
on gelatine. Dissolve one part of gelatine in ten 
parts of boiling water and pour it into a deep pan to 
harden. When it is cold, by means of a sharp knife 
cut it into inch cubes. Place one of these cubes into 
the suspected liquid and allow it to remain for twenty- 
four hours, then wash it slightly with cold water and 
cut through it with a knife. If the color is a natural 
one it will lightly tinge the outer surface of the cube, 
but will not penetrate far below the surface, so that 
the inner portions will be largely free from color. 
Nearly all of the coal-tar dyes, cochineal and similar 
colors, will be found to permeate the jelly cube, often 
to the center. 

''One advantage of the dyeing on cloth, however, 
is that the sample can . be preserved as evidence. 
Nothing is better than ocular proof to convince the 
average person." 

Several other tests for food adulteration have been 
given under the special foods or in other papers of 
this series. (See also Bulletin No. 100. Some Forms 
of Food Adulteration and Simple Methods for Their 
Detection. Price 10 cents, of the Supt. of Documents, 
Washington, D. C.) 



Province 



SPECIAL DIET 

The housekeeper of today must know not only how 
to select food for the normal member of her house- 
hold, and how to provide for the varying needs of 
different ages and activity, but she is many times 
called upon to direct the diet of an invalid or a delicate 
child or to provide special foods for those who are 
sick. 

It is not her province to diagnose a case, or to Housekeeper's 
prescribe special diet, but it is her part to be able in- 
telligently to carry out the directions of a physician. 
If the invalid is to have starchy foods eliminated from 
his menu, the housekeeper must know where to turn 
to obtain foods that will furnish the requisite number 
of calories without recourse to carbohydrates, and 
she must be able to prepare such food in a palatable 
manner; if the diet is to contain a large amount of 
fat, as in the case of a tubercular patient, she must 
know where to obtain this food in a digestible form, 
and, if there is need for economy, how to substitute 
cheap forms of fat for the more expensive ones. She 
must know, when the direction is given for a nourish- 
ing diet, how to add the egg or milk that is required, 
or to substitute some other form of food if these are 
not acceptable. 

The housekeeper then, so far as invalid diet is con- 
cerned, should be familiar first, with the composition 
of the ordinary food materials, and second, with the 
relative digestibility of the different foods so far as 

173 



174 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Food for 
Children 



High 
Proteid 



that knowledge is available and with their physio- 
logical effect. Then, and then only, can she intelli- 
gently carry out the directions given. 

One of the troublesome problems for the mother is 
the deciding upon the right food for children, espe- 
cially for those of school age. While the physician 
will direct her in the care of her invalids, and in the 
food necessary for the young baby, she is usually left 
to work out her own problems so far as the older child 
is concerned. One reason for this is that compara- 
tively little attention has been given to this matter, 
while the diet for the baby has been studied for years. 

Fortunately the healthy child settles the matter for 
himself to quite an extent and his own normal appe- 
tite guides him up to a certain point. But a normal 
appetite may easily 'become perverted, and lead him 
lar astray. 

As we have seen, the child needs a larger percent- 
age of proteid in the diet than the adult. At about 
ten or twelve years the needs of the body rapidly in- 
crease, and a far larger amount of food in proportion 
to body weight is used than in the case of the adult. 
The mother who has a gr(5wing boy of this age is 
often astonished at the amount of food he eats and 
seems to need. The chart given on page 51 shows 
the proportional amounts of the different foods needed 
at different ages. 

Little anxiety need be felt lest the child overeat if 
the food be probcrly masticated and so taken slowly. 



Children' 



SPECIAL DIET 175 

if it be of the right kind, and if it be taken at proper 
times. The latter point is particularly important in 
its relation to sweets. Candy at the end of a meal 
for dessert is legitimate and even desirable, but the 
same article bought at the candy store and eaten on 
the way home from school before dinner is seriously 
objectionable, since it satisfies the appetite and lessens 
the desire for the regular meal without giving ade- 
quate nourishment. An over amount of sugar may 
easily be taken in this way while rarely, if ever, does 
this happen if the appetite is first largely satisfied with 
bread and milk, vegetables and meat. 

The often objectionable children's party would be 
robbed of its evil effects if simple, attractive sand- Parties 
wiches were always provided in abundance before the 
ice cream and cake were offered, since few children 
would over-eat of the latter under these circumstances. 

If children are to be allowed to eat freely the food 
must be simple in character and easy of digestion. 
The ordinary meats, with the exclusion of pork, 
cooked simply, few "made" dishes, an abundance of 
vegetables and fruits, only the simplest puddings, no 
pastry, occasional plain cake (not between meals), 
plenty of the best of bread and butter, of well cookci 
cereals and of milk and eggs will furnish variety 
sufficient for anyone. Tea and coffee are to be re- 
served for the adult, while cocoa may be used in mod- 
eration, chiefly for the milk with which it is made. 
Highly seasoned foods are to be avoided, as they tend 



176 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



Fat in 

the Child's 

Diet 



Omniverous 
Tastes 



to excite unduly the flow of the digestive juices and 
gradually make such flow dependent on their stimu- 
lation. Their continued use also seems to induce a 
craving for strong;' stimulants. 

It is necessary to encourage many children to eat 
more fat than they are inclined to do. This may as 
legitimately be taken in the form of butter and cream 
as in that of fat meat, so generally repungant to chil- 
dren. Hutchison suggests that toffee taken at the end 
of the meal is a good medium for fat when there is 
difficulty in giving sufficient in other ways. 

With young children special attention must be paid 
to the digestibility of the food. This is frequently a 
matter of personal idiosyncracy, and when this is the 
case the matter can only be determined by experiment. 
The safe way is to begin the diet with foods which 
are generally easily digested, and to allow those more 
difficult of digestion only at a later period. If any 
one article proves unwholesome in the particular case, 
it should of course be discarded. 

On the other hand, it is most undesirable that chil- 
dren should grow up without learning to like all 
ordinary foods, and without being able to eat every 
kind of wholesome food. Such habit cannot be ac- 
quired unless a certain variety is provided and unless 
the child who is old enough be encouraged to try dif- 
ferent articles. Even those less easily digestible may 
at a proper age be taken occasionally with impunity, 
for the sake of accomplishing this end. Vegetables, 



SPECIAL DIET 177 

while so desirable in the diet, often seem to be an ac- 
quired taste. 

Above all things there should be no yielding to a 
child's whims in allowing him to refuse the food of- 
fered and to require special provision for himself. 

The question of eating between meals is one that Eating 
frequently arises. During the school period there is Meaff^^ 
difficulty in providing food at sufficiently short inter- 
vals. The child who has breakfasted early, often be- 
comes exhausted before the time of the noon meal. 
This exhaustion sometimes is shown by the apparent 
stupidity or the inattention and restlessness of the 
child, and sometimes by extreme irritability. Wher- 
ever this interval is a long one, there should be pro- 
vision for some luncheon during the morning. 
School lunches have been established in many places 
and when well conducted serve an excellent purpose. 
Where the establishment of such a luncheon is not 
possible, a light lunch carried from home, such as a 
sandwich, a shce of bread and butter sprinkled with 
sugar, or even some fruit or sweet chocolate, eaten 
in the middle of the morning, will do much to preserve 
the good temper of the child and to make it possible 
for him to do his work adequately. The child who 
at home grows hungry between meals should be al- 
low^ed to have something to eat, provided it be bread 
and butter, a sandwich, or crackers and milk, or fruit. 
With the younger children the heartiest meal should 
be in the middle of the day, and the evening meai 



178 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

should be chosen with especial reference to ease in 
digestion. 

In general, then, the food for children should differ 
from that of adults, first, in being of the most simple 
character; second, in the absence of stimulating sub- 
stances, such as large amounts of spice ; third, in the 
proportions of the different food principles. In addi- 
tion to this the child should think as Httle as possible 
about the food he eats. The constant discussion of 
the wholesomeness of different articles of diet and the 
consequent directing of the attention of the child to 
his own bodily processes seems distinctly harmful. 
Such discussion should only be used when necessary 
in order to show the unsuitableness of some especially 
desired food that must be denied. Good habits in 
regard to food should be established at this age, rather 
than theories about it. 
students' Much lias been said in regard to food for older 

students, and a number of studies of student diet have 
been made. A few points only can be considered. 
In the first place, the student is leading a sedentary 
life, and does not need the hearty food required by 
the laborer or the one who is doing much outdoor or 
manual work. The proportion of proteid should be 
somewhat high in comparison with that of the carbo- 
hydrates, and the food should be simple and digestible, 
in order that but little energy be used in carrying on 
the processes of digestion. 



Diet 



Diet 



SPECIAL DIET i79 

A good variety is needed, however, and especial 
care must be exercised to make the food attractive 
that the appetite may be stimulated. The compara- 
tively small amount of exercise taken generally by 
the student makes this especially necessary, though no 
amount of attention paid to 'the food can or should be 
a substitute for the healthy appetite. 

As in the case of the child, it is frequently wise for 
the student to eat oftener than at the regular meal 
time. A glass of milk, a cup of cocoa, or of broth 
with a cracker in the middle of the morning will often 
prevent a headache from exhaustion. 

Old age needs especial consideration in regard to oid^Age 
diet as well as youth. After middle life the total 
amount of food needed lessens somewhat, and the 
proportion of building material, both of proteids and 
of mineral salts is less. Again, as in childhood, care 
must be exercised in regard to digestibility and sim- 
plicity of food. Often special conditions of the sys- 
tem must be considered and certain kinds of food 
avoided, but this is a matter for intelligent following 
of a physician's directions. 

One of the question that frequently arises in regard 
to diet is that of reducing or increasing flesh by this 
means. Increase in weight implies that more food is 
taken into the body than is utilized in the repair of 
waste and in work. To prevent the storage of fat more 
work must be performed or less food taken. The well 
known systems for curing obesity depend chiefly on 
the reduction of the total amount of food, — some- 



i8o FOOD AND DIETETICS 

times to two-fifths of the standard dietary, and on the 
lessening of the proportion of fats and carbonydrates, 
especially of the latter. So radical a treatment as this 
should only be undertaken under the direction of a 
physician as there is a possibility of serious injury to 
health. A diminution of the sugar and starch in the 
diet and a slight lessening of the total amount eaten 
with increased light exercise may be undertaken by 
almost anyone with the result of decreasing the fat of 
the body. 

The converse of course holds true. Rest, a full diet, 
and one rich in carbohydrate and fat tend to increase 
the storing of fat in the body, although there is occa- 
sionally a person who fails to respond to such treat- 
ment. In increasing the diet due regard must be paid 
to the digestive powers of the individual that they may 
not be over-taxed. 

It is said that some oriental countries, wiser than 
we, have a custom of paying the physician for keep- 
ing the family well, not for restoring the sick mem- 
ber to health. In the absence of such a custom and 
with physicians not trained for this purpose, the 
housemother herself must perform this office. 

Special diet in disease must be directed by the physi- 
cian, for the housekeeper, even though she informs 
herself upon the general principles of such diet, can- 
not recognize special symptoms that often require in- 
dividual modification of general rules. She must con- 
tent herself, then, with the role of preserver of health, 
and though she can by no means ward off all sick- 
ness by the best planned dietary, she can do much 
toward strengthening the constitution of the members 
of her family, and making their bodies more resistant 
to disease. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

A. B. — Z of Our Own Nutrition ($i.oo, postage .10). 
Horace Fletcher. 

Air, Water, and Food ($2.00, postage .18). Richards and 

Woodman. 

Corn Plants ($1.00, postage .08). F. L. Sargent. 

Cost of Food ($1.00, postage .10). Ellen H. Richards. 

Cost of Living ($1.00, postage .10). Ellen H. Richards. 

Dietary, The ($0.15, postage .02). Ellen A. Huntington. 

Dietary Computer ($1.50, postage .12). Ellen H. Richards. 

Dietetic Value of Bread ($1.50, postage ,14). Goodfellow. 

Diet in Relation to Age and Activity ($1.00, postage .08). 
Sir Henry Thompson. 

Elements of the Theory and Practice of Cookery ($1.00, 
postage .08). Williams and Fisher. 

Essentials of School Diet ($2.00). Clement Dukes. 

Essentials of Chemical Physiology ($1.50, postage .14). 
Halliburton. 

Food ($1.20, postage .08). A. H. Church. 

Food as a Factor in Student Life ($0.25, postage .02). Rich- 
ards and Talbot. 

Food and Its Functions ($1.00, postage .08). James Knight. 

Food Inspection and Analysis ($7.50). Albert E. Leach. 

Food Products of the world ($1.50, postage .14). Mary E. 
Green, M. D. 

Food and the Principles of Dietetics ($3.00, postage .26). 
Robert Hutchison, M. D. 

Food and Feeding ($1.75, postage .14). Sir Henry Thomp- 
son. 

Food in Health and Disease ($5.00). I. B. Yeo. 

Food Materials and their Adulterations ($1.00, postage .08). 
Ellen H. Richards. 

Handbook of Domestic Science and Household Arts ($1.00, 
postage .10). L. L. W. Wilson. 

181 



i82 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

How to Feed Children ($i.oo, postage .10). Louise E. Ho- 
gan. 

Milk and Its Products ($1.00, postage .08). Wing. 

Physiological Economy in Nutrition ($3.00, p'ostage .20). 
R. H. Chittenden. 

Plain Words About Food (Rumford Leaflets) ($1.00, post- 
age .06). E. H. Richards. 

Practical Dietetics ($5.00). Oilman Thompson, M. D. 

Practical Sanitary and Economic Cooking ($0.40, postage 
.06). Mary Hinman Abel. 

Story of a Grain of Wheat ($1.00, postage .10). W. C. 
Edgar. 

Story of the Living Machine ($0.35, postage .04). H. Wr 
Conn. 
Note. — Books may be ordered through the School at the 

prices given. Any book for which the postage is given may 

be borrowed by members of the School for one week. Send 

the postage in stamps with the request. 

IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL PUBLICATIONS 
Farmers' Bulletins. 

Free, of the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
No. 34 — Meats, Composition and Cooking. 
No. 42— Facts About Milk. 
No. 63 — Care of Milk on the Farm. 
No. 74 — Milk as Food. 
No. 85 — Fish as Food. 
No. 93 — Sugar as Food. 

No. 112 — Bread and the Principles of Bread Making. 
No. 121 — Beans, Peas and other Legumes as Food. 
No. 128 — Eggs and their Uses as Food. 
No. 129 — Sweet Potatoes. 

No. 142 — Principles of Nutrition and the Nutritive Value 
of Food. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 183 

No. 175 — Home Manufacture and Use of Unfermented 
Grape Juice. 

No. 182 — Poultry as Food. 

No. 183 — Meat on the Farm: Butchering, Curing, and 
Keeping. 

No. 203 — Canned Fruit, Preserves and Jellies. 

Reprint from Year Book of 1900 — The Value of Potatoes 
as Food. 

Reprint from Year Book of 1902— The Cost of Food as Re- 
lated to Its Nutritive Value. 

Circular No. 43 — Foods, Nutrients, Food Economy. 

Circular No. 46 — The Functions and Uses of Food. 

Also, see the List of Bulletins and Circulars of U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture for Free Distribution, for contents of 
the Farmers' Bulletins called "Experimental Work," which 
have many brief articles of interest, • compiled chiefly from 
State Agricultural Station reports. 
STATE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 

Free, within their own states, usually sent to others free or 
for a two cent stamp. Apply to the various stations. 
Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, Orono, Maine. 

Bulletin No. 54 — Nuts as Food. 

Bulletin No. 65— Coffee Substitutes. 

Bulletin No. 84— Cereal Breakfast Foods. 

Bulletin No. 118— Cereal Foods. 
Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station, Urbana, 111. 

Circular No. 71 — Roasting of Beef. 
Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 

Bulletin No. 230 — The Cooking Quality of Potatoes. 
Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station, St. Paul, Minn. 

Bulletin No. 74— Digestibility of Beans. 

Bulletin No. 92— Digestibility of Cabbage, Cheese, Rice, 
Peas and Beans. 

Note. — There are many other State bulletins but their re- 
sults are usually republished in the bulletins of the Office of 
Experiment Stations. 



i84 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

FOR SALE BULLETINS OF THE OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT 
STATIONS. 

Send coin or money order (stamps not accepted) to the 
Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. 

No. 28 — The Chemical Composition of American Food Ma- 
terials. By W. O. Atwater. Price 5 cents. 

No. 29 — Dietary Studies at the University of Tennessee in 
1895. By Chas. E. Wait, Ph. D. Price 5 cents. 

No. 35 — Food and Nutrition Investigations in New Jersey. 
By Edward B. Voorhees. Price 5 cents. 

No. 40 — Dietary Studies in New Mexico. By Arthur Goss, 
M. S. Price 5 cents. 

No. 43 — Losses in Boiling Vegetables and the Composition 
and Digestibility of Potatoes and Eggs. By H. Snyder, B. S. 
Price 5 cents. 

No. 52 — Nutrition Investigations in Pittsburg,*Pa. By Isabel 
Bevier, Ph. M. Price 5 cents. 

No. 53 — Nutrition Investigations at the University of Ten- 
nessee. By Chas. E. Wait, Ph. D. Price 5 cents. 

No. 55 — Dietary Studies in Chicago. Jane Addams and 
Caroline L. Hunt. Reported by W. O. Atwater. Price 5 
cents. 

No. 63 — Description of a New Respiration Calorimeter and 
Experiments on the Conversion of Energy in the Human 
Body. By W. O. Atwater, Ph. D. Price 10 cents. 

No. 84 — Nutrition Investigations at the California Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station. By M. E. Jaffa, M. S. Price 5 
cents. 

No. 85 — A Report of Investigations on the Digestibility and 
Nutritive Value of Bread. By Chas. D. Woods. Price 5 
cents. 

No. 91 — Nutrition Investigations at the University of Illi- 
nois, North Dakota Agricultural College, and Lake Erie Col- 
lege, Ohio. By H. S. Grindley, J. L. Sammis, E. F. Ladd, 
Isabel Bevier, and Elizabeth C. Sprague. Price 5. cents. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 185 

No. lOl — Studies on Bread and Bread Making at the Uni- 
versity of Minnesota. By Henry Snyder, B. S. Price 5 cents. 

No, 102 — Experiments on Losses in Cooking Meat. By H. 
S, Grindley, D. Sc. Price 5 cents. 

No. 107 — Nutrition Investigations Among Fruitarians and 
Chinese at the California Agricultural Experiment Station. 
By M. E. Jaffa, M. S. Price 5 cents. 

No. 126 — Studies on the Digestibility and Nutritive Value 
of Bread at the University of Minnesota in 1900-1902. By 
Harry Snyder, B. S. Price 5 cents. 

No. 129 — Dietary Studies in Boston and Springfield, Mass., 
Philadelphia, Pa., and Chicago, HI. By Lydia Southard, El- 
len H. Richards, Susannah Usher, Bertha M. Terrill, and 
Amelia Shapleigh. Price 10 cents. 

No. 132 — Further Investigations Among Fruitarians at the 
California Agricultural Experiment Station. By M. E. Jaffa, 
M. S. Price 5 cents. 

No. 141 — Experiments on Losses in Cooking Meat, 1900- 
1903. By H. S. Grindley, D. Sc. Price 5 cents. 

No. 143 — Studies on the Digestibility and Nutritive Value 
of Bread at the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, 1899- 
1903. By C. D. Woods. Price 5 cents. 

No. 149 — Studies of the Food of Maine Lumbermen. By 
C. D. Woods. Price 10 cents. 

No. 152 — Dietary Studies with Harvard University Stu- 
dents. By Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Price 5 cents. 

No. 156 — Studies of the Digestibility and Nutritive Value of 
Bread and of Macaroni at the University of Minnesota. By 
Harry Snyder, B. S. Price 10 cents. 

No. 162 — Studies on the Influence of Cooking upon the Nu- 
tritive Value of Meats at the University of Illinois, 1903-1904. 
By H. S. Grindley, Sc. D. Price 15 cents. 



i86 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

PURE FOOD 

Circular No. i6 — Officials charged with the Enforcement of 
Food Laws in the United States and Canada. 

Circular No. 17 — Standards of Purity for Food Products. 

Circular No. 59 — Influence of Formaldehyde on the Diges- 
tive Enzymes. 

Extract No. 44 — Butter Substitutes. 

Extract No. 221 — The Use and Abuse of Food Preserva- 
tives. 

Extract No. 328 — Determination of the Effect of Preserva- 
tives on Food and Health. 

Extract No. 331 — The Adulteration of Drugs. 

Farmers' Bulletin, No. 131 — Household Tests for the Detec- 
tion of Oleomargarine and Renovated Butter. 

Bulletin No. 13 — (Bureau of Chemistry). Part 9, Cereals 
and Cereal Products. Price 5 cents. 

Bulletin No. 13 — (Bureau of Chemistry). Part 10, Pre- 
served Meats. Price 10 cents. 

Bulletin No. 84 — (Bureau of Chemistry). Influence of Food 
Preservatives on Health, Part I Boric Acid and Borax. Price 
30 cents. 

Bulletin No. 69 — (Bureau of Chemistry). Food and Food 
Control. (Revised). Parts I, II, HI, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII. 
Price 5 cents each. 

National laws to 1905 in Part I and laws of all the States 
in alphabetical order. Request State laws wanted. 

Bulletin No. 100 — (Bureau of Chemistry). Some Forms 
of Food Adulteration and Simple Methods for their Detec- 
tion. Price 10 cents. 

Bulletin No. 46 — (Bureau of Animal Industry). The Milk 
Supply of 200 Cities and Towns. Price 15 cents. 

Bulletin No. 70 — (Bureau of Animal Industry). Milk Sup- 
ply of 29 Southern Cities. Price 5 cents. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 187 

Bulletin No. 81— (Bureau of Animal Industry). The Milk 
Supply of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Price 5 cents. 

Also, see State publications on pure food, especially bulle- 
tins and reports of North Dakota Experiment Station, Fargo, 
N. D.; Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station, Laramie, 
Wyo.; Wisconsin Dairy and Food Commission, Madison, 
Wis. ; Pennsylvania Dairy and Food Commission, Harrisburg, 
Pa.; Massachusetts State Board of Health, Boston, Mass.; 
Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, Orono, Me.; Nebras- 
ka Food Commission, Lincoln, Neb.; Minnesota Dairy and 
Food Commission, St. Paul, Minn., etc. 

PERIODICALS AND LISTS. 

Experiment Station Record, published by U. S. Department 
of Agriculture, Office of Experiment Stations. Price $1.00. 
Published monthly and contains extracts and summaries of 
national and state publications, foreign and domestic maga- 
zines, and current books relating to food and the work of the 
various departments. 

The Monthly List of New Publications of the Department 
of Agriculture will be sent regularly to all who apply for 
it. (Free.) 

Complete list of bulletins for free distribution and for sale 
will be sent on application to the Department of Agriculture, 
also the list food of the Office of Experiment Stations, Bureau 
of Chemistry, etc. 



TEST QUESTIONS 

The following questions constitute the "written reci- 
tation" which the regular members of the A. S. H. E. 
answer in writing and send in for the correction and 
comment of the instructor. They are intended to 
emphasize and fix in the memory the most important 
points in the lesson. 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 

PART III 

Read Carefully. It will be advisable to read the fol- 
lowing United States Department of Agriculture Bulletins in 
connection with this lesson: No. 121— Beans, Peas, and 
Other Legumes as Food. No. I2g— Sweet Potatoes. Re- 
print—The Value of Potatoes as Food. Circular No, 17— 
Standards of Purity for Food Products. Circular No. 16 — 
Officials Charged with the Enforcement of Food Laws. Ex- 
tract No. 221— Use and Abuse of Food Preservatives. Make 
your answers full and complete. 



1. In what different ways may vegetables be classi- 

fied? Classify the following according to each 
method: Tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, 
squash, turnips, beets, green corn, lettuce, spin- 
ach, cabbage, green peas, dried peas, string 
beans, dried lima beans, celery, rice. 

2. How does the percentage of water in milk com- 

pare with that in vegetables and fruits ? 

3. How does the presence of cellulose in vegetables 

afifcct our use of them? 

4. \\'hy do vegetables have an important place in 

the diet? 

5. Compare fruits and nuts as to food value. 

6. Name three fruits that have a high food value. 

7. Compare tea, cofifee and cocoa as beverages. 

8. Describe the process of the preparation of tea for 

the market, and account for the names of dif- 
ferent kinds. 

9. What are the reasons for prohibiting the adultera- 

tion of foods ? 
10. (a) How ought this to be accomplished? (b) 
What do you know of the food laws in your 
own state? 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 

11. Give examples, from your own experience if pos- 

sible, of misleading statements in regard to 
food, and show the truth in the matter. 

12. Can you suggest any way in which standards may 

be changed so that the public will not demand 
such articles as colored butter? 

13. Give the arguments for and against the use of 

preservatives. Which side seems to you to have 
the better case? 

14. Try the two tests for distinguishing butter, but- 

terine, and renovated butter, and report your 
results. 

15. How should the diet of a child, say from five to 

ten years of age, differ from that of the adult? 

16. What is the objection to the use by the child of 

tea, coffee and highly seasoned food? 

17. What control should be exercised over eating be- 

tween meals on the part of the child? 

18. What is the need for fat in the child's diet? In 

what ways may it be supplied? 

19. Make out a menu for three days for a child of 

about eight. 

20. What is the province of the housekeeper in re- 

gard to food for the sick? 

21. Summarize the chief new points that you have 

learned from Food and Dietetics. 

22. To what extent and how has the study of these 

lessons resulted in the modification of your own 
diet or that of your family ? 

23. What questions have you ? 

Note. — After completing the test, sign your full name. 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 

NOTES ON THE QUESTIONS 

The chief difficulty that our students seem to have 
in answering the questions seems to be in the calcu- 
lations necessary in question 6 and 21 of Part I. 
These seem to arise chiefly from lack of practice in 
using percentages. 

Question 6 reads: "Which would be the cheaper 
source of proteid, beefsteak at 22 cents per pound, 
milk at 7 cents per quart, bread at 5 cents per pound, 
com meal at 3 cents per pound?" 

As percentage simply denotes the number of parts 
in 100, it seems simplest in this problem to calculate 
the cost of I pound of proteid in 100 pounds of each 
of the materials, viz., if beef contains 19% of pro- 
teid (table page 57), 100 pounds of beef will contain 
19 pounds of proteid, and 

100 lbs. beef steak @ 22c. a lb. costs $22.00. Then 
I lb. proteid in beef steak will cost $22.00 -^ 19 
= $1.15 per lb. 
In the same way, — 

100 lbs. of milk with 3.3% proteid contains 3.;^ lbs. 

100 lbs. milk = 50 qts. @ 7c. a qt. costs $3.50. i lb. 

proteid in milk costs $3.50 -^ 3.$ = $1.06 per lb. 

In like manner, the cost of one pound of proteid 
in bread and in com meal is obtained with little cal- 

191 



192 



FOOD AND DIETETICS 



culation and the cheapest source of proteid is obvious. 
In the use of percentage and decimals, to avoid errors 
in pointing off, note whether the answer is reason- 
able. 

Although Question 21 is optional, — "Calculate 
the amount of proteid, carbohydrates, and fat in 
own diet for one day as nearly as you can," a num- 
ber of interesting solutions have been sent in. The 
following is a good example: 

MENU 



Breakfast 


Orange 


3 oz 


Oatmeal 


% " 


Cream 


i^ " 


Sugar 


% " 


Toast 


2 " 


Butter 


Vx " 



Lunch 

Potato Soup 
Potato 
Milk 
Butter 
Flour 

Cold Beef 

Bread 

Butter 

Chocolate 
Milk 
Sugar 
Chocolate 



^ 



Dinner 

Tomato Soup 
Butter Yi oz 

Flour }/8 

Tomatoes 4 

Crackers Y^ 

Beefsteak 6 

Potatoes 4 

Lettuce with Oil 
Dressing 

Lettuce i oz. 

Oil ^ 

Bread i 

Butter K 

Strawberries 4 
Cream i 

Sugar \]/i 



NOTES ON THE QUESTIONS 193 

Percentage Composition and Weight of Nutrients of Food Consumed 



Oatmeal 

Cream 

Orange 

Bread 

Butter 

Potato 

Milk 

Flour 

Cold Beef... 
Chocolate.. . 

Sugar 

Tomato 

Crackers 

Beefsteak . .. 

Lettuce 

Oil 

Strawberries 






47 



<L> -is 



16 7 

2 5 

.6 

II. 9 

i.o 

.1-6 

3-3 

7 9 

22.3 

12.9 

■9 

9-8 

23 9 

.1 



0835 

07S 

018 

595 

013 

216 

231 

02Q 
446 
043 

036 
012 

434 
001 

036 



3 268 



•^ O 
1- XI 

^ CJ 



66 



51 

22 

5 
76 

30 

ico 

3 

73 



U 



331 

135 
255 
575 

344 
350 
286 

lOI 

000 

156 
091 

02s 

280 



8.929 



fe 



Oh 



flH 



.0365 

•S55 
.003 
.015 
1. 168 
.270 
.280 
.005 
.572 
.162 

.C16 
.011 
.612 
.002 
.250 
.024 



SI 



Total Amount of Food Consumed During the Day 



Proteid Carbohydrate 

3 268 ounces 8.929 ounces 

or or 

92.615 grams 253.019 grams 

There are 28.34 grams (28'/3) in an ounce. 



Fat 



3.901 ounces 

or 
112.821 grams 



Fuel and Energy Value of Food Consumed 

Calories 

92.615 grams proteid X 4.1= 379-7 

253.019 grams carbohydrate X 4.1 = 1,037.3 

114.821 grams fat X 9.3 = 1,049.0 

Total 2,466.0 

Of course this involves a great deal of calculation, 
and no one would think of undertaking so much extra 
work often. As stated on page 60, the chief value 
of calculating a few dietaries is in giving a definite 



194 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

idea of the composition of food. It is not expected 
or necessary that each day's ration should conform 
to any standard. It is only when the diet is calcu- 
lated for a considerable period of time that it be- 
comes of much use for comparison. 

The method of studying the diet for a month is 
described on page 59. When this is done, there is 
in reality less calculation involved, for then the 
figures are based on the amount of raw materials 
used and the composition of each individual dish 
need not be calculated. That is, the total weight 
of flour, butter, milk, eggs, and sugar is known and 
there only remains the allowance to be made for 
waste. 

The whole subject of standard dietaries is in a 
somewhat chaotic state at present. Professor Chit- 
tenden's experiments have shown that it is possible 
to maintain health and strength on about half the 
amount of proteid recommended in the standard 
dietaries. If Dr. Folin's theory is correct (see fol- 
lowing article), any ordinary diet contains more than 
sufficient proteid for the physiological needs of the 
body. Nearly all dietetians agree that, from the phy- 
siological standpoint, it is immaterial whether the 
body obtains its supply of heat and energy from fats, 
carbohydrates, or proteids. 

But all this does not mean that a proper balance 
between the food materials is not necessary for health. 
Digestibility, bulk, personal taste and habit must 



NOTES ON THE QUESTIONS 195 

be considered. The problem, then, of the balanced 
ration becomes an individual one, to be solved ac- 
cording to the conditions and experience of each 
individual person. To make the best selection of 
foods it is necessary to know as much as possible 
about the composition of all ordinary foods. Then 
proper cooking and serving and especially the man- 
ner of eating and the amount eaten are fully as 
important as the composition. So there is no royal 
road to the selection of a best diet, but experience 
based on knowledge should give good judgment. — 
M. Le Bosquet. 



PROTEIN METABOLISM IN ITS RELATION 
TO DIETARY STANDARDS* 

Otto Folin, Ph. D, McLean Hospital, Waverly, Mass. 

Present views concerning the role of fats, carbohy- 
drates, and proteins in the animal organism are not 
essentially different from views that prevailed a 
generation ago. An earlier theory, brilliant but 
untenable in the light of later more exact experi- 
ments, was advanced by Liebig about the middle of 
the 19th century. This theory held that the protein 
taken with the food constitutes the sole source of 
muscular energy and that fats and carbohydrates serve 
only to maintam the body tem.perature. 

LIEBIG'S THEORY 

Voit, in the course of experiments undertaken to 
test the validity of Liebig's theory, established the 
remarkable fact that severe physical work is not 
accompanied by any material increase in the 
destruction of protein within the animal organism, 
as of course would be the case if protein were the sole 
or even the chief source of muscular energy. The 
destruction of Liebig's erroneous but definite theory 
of metabolism naturally led to renewed investigations 
concerning the function of fats, carbohydrates, and 

*Paper read at the Lake Placid Conference on Home Economics, June, 
1905. 

196 



PROTEIN METABOLISM • 197 

protein; and in this necessary constructive work, 
Voit became the recognized leader. From his labor- 
atory came investigations and deductions which 
have since been almost universally accepted as 
final. 

Voit's dietary standards, the practical outcome 
of all this work, are intended to represent a few 
fundamental facts. A man of average size gives off 
in a day a certain quantity of energy (in the form of 
work and heat). This energy can be measured and 
often has been measured, with a fair degree of ac- 
curacy. The more physical work a man does the 
more energy both in the form of work and of heat 
is given off, and the increase in energy consumption 
due to work or exercise has also been measured. 
The daily consumption of energy in the animal 
organism is obtained at the expense of food. 
And since it is known just how much energy 
can be obtained from burning a given quantity 
of fat, starch, or protein, it becomes theoreti- 
cally simple, and practically quite possible, to 
calculate the amount of food that a given individual 
doing a certain work must consume in order to main- 
tain the equilibrium of the intake and outgo of energy. 
Such calculations are based on the assumption that 
food materials when oxidized within the animal 
organism liberate the same amount of energy as when 
burned in ordinary air or oxygen, and there' is no 
reason to doubt the correctness of this assumption. 



igS FOOD AND DIETETICS 

VOIT'S DIETARY STANDARDS 

In so far as Voit's dietary standards prescribe the 
amount of dry food material, of available energy- 
giving material necessary under given conditions, 
they have undoubtedly been of very great service. 
The dietary standards, however, prescribe not only 
how much available energy the daily food must con- 
tain, but also how much of that energy can be most 
profitably supplied in the form of protein and how 
much in the form of fats and carbohydrates. Voit's 
well known average diet, for example, calls for 56 
gm. fat, 500 gm. carbohydrates, and 118 gm. protein. 

The justification and probable value of such more 
specific standards of diet is the subject of this paper, 
and it is a subject on which I think there is room for 
differences of opinion. It should, however, at once 
be stated that such differences of opinion do not 
concern the non-nitrogenous part of the dietary 
standards. Voit, and with him all competent to 
have an opinion, are agreed that the fats and carbo- 
hydrates need not at all be provided in the ratio of 
56 to 500. 

PROPORTION OF FATS TO CARBOHYDRATES 

It is a well-known fact that if more fat than the 
animal organism can advantageously oxidize is sup- 
plied, such fat, in so far as it is absorbed, is stored 
as fat in the body. If an excess of carbohydrates is 
taken, such excess is also converted into fat and is 



PROTEIN METABOLISM 199 

likewise stored as fat for future use. Further Pfliiger 
has recently advanced the not improbable hypothesis 
that fats are not completely oxidized as such within 
the animal organism, but are first converted into 
carbohydrates. The animal organism is then able 
to convert carbohydrates into fat and fat into car- 
bohydrates according to its needs, and the logical 
conclusion therefore is quite in harmony with the 
accepted view that it is theoretically a matter 
of relatively small importance what ratio is selected 
for the fats and carbohydrates. The two taken 
together must of necessity furnish the greater part 
of the fuel value of the food, but upon individual 
peculiarities, relative cost, and a number of other 
accidental factors depends what ratio between the 
two may be most suitable in any given case. 

PROTEIN IN THE DIETARY 

With regard to the protein prescribed by the die- 
tary standards the case is different. The animal or 
human organism, while able to convert carbohydrates 
into fat and probably also fat into carbohydrates, can 
effect no such transformation of non-nitrogenous 
food into the highly nitrogenous proteins. It may 
be able to produce carbohydrates, and therefore also 
fat, out of protein, but it certainly can not produce 
protein out of fat or carbohydrates. The protein of 
the food not only furnishes energy and heat, as do 
the fats and carbohydrates, but it, and it alone, 



200 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

furnishes the material which replaces the constant 
loss of living protoplasm. It is therefore clearly 
necessary that the daily food should contain enough 
protein to protect the organism against loss of body 
tissue. On the other hand, it is generally believed 
that instead of being advantageous it is probably 
detrimental to the full-grown organism to have to 
take care of more protein than is needed for the re- 
placement of lost tissue material. An excess of fat 
or carbohydrates, the human organism can to a very 
great extent take care of by adding it to its store of 
body fat, but it has not the power similarly to in- 
crease its supply of reserve protein. Any excess of 
nitrogenous material supplied with the food leads at 
once to a correspondingly increased destruction of 
protein. And the formation of excessive quantities 
of nitrogenous katabolism products within the body 
is supposed to be more or less a source of danger. 
I think all are agreed that gout at least is largely the 
result of "high living." 

MINIMUM PROTEIN 

The important question then is, How much pro- 
tein must the diet of normal persons contain ? Voit 
came to the difinite conclusion that ii8 grams are 
needed for a man weighing 70 kilos (150 lbs.), and 
for more than a generation this figure has been gen- 
erally accepted as substantially correct. But is it? 
Since the publication in 1881 of Voit's great mono- 



PROTEIN METABOLISM 201 

graph on metabolism it has been shown by Hirsch- 
feld, Klemperer, Pechsel, and Siven that the daily 
protein destruction in men of average size can be 
reduced to 40 grams or less, and that nitrogen equi- 
librium can be maintained by furnishing such small 
amounts of protein with the food. The experiments 
by means of which Voit secured the almost universal 
acceptance of his standard minimum protein re- 
quirement are essentially similar and in no way 
superior to these more modem experiments which 
seem to prove that 40 grams of protein, or less, are 
enough to maintain nitrogen equilibrium. One 
might therefore suppose that the later experiments 
would have been accepted as proving the erroneous- 
ness of Voit's figures, or that they would at least have 
been deemed sufficiently important to lead to a gen- 
eral reopening of the whole question. But the earlier 
conclusions and generalizations of Voit had in the 
meantime, so to speak, survived the probation period, 
and had become the accepted doctrine, not to say 
tradition, of the scientific public. In addition, 
it must be remembered that Voit's standard 
comes much nearer the average common usage. 
The widespread and earnest acceptance of Voit's 
figure is undoubtedly in a great measure due to the 
fact that it agrees tolerably well with the protein 
consumption actually prevailing among the people, 
specially among those not too poor to procure the 
more expensive articles of food. 



202 FOOD AND DIETETICS 



AVERAGE CONSUMPTION 



It has frequently been asserted that the people 
at large do as a matter of fact consume on the 
average about ii8 grams of protein per 70 kilos of 
weight. But I venture to insist that the question of 
average protein consumption has little or nothing 
to do with the problem before us. To argue that 
the customary or the average consumption of pro- 
tein is the necessary consumption suggests that the 
necessary potein consumption is after all far more 
flexible than is indicated by the standard diets. It 
also implies that the people have solved the problem 
without the aid of science, and further that their 
average health and vigor is now all that we can hope 
for in so far as the protein contents of the food have 
anything to do with it. 

Voit, himself, remained, I think, somewhat under 
the strong influence of Liebig's teachings concerning 
the peculiar value of protein as a food. It is diffi- 
cult to see how he could otherwise have failed to 
find that it is possible to maintain nitrogen equili- 
brium on a comparatively small fraction of the pro- 
tein which he declared to be the minimum. It was 
right and natural that Voit should not put the nec- 
essary protein requirement at too low a figure; its 
great practical import demanded cautiousness. But 
the minimum protein requirement for man could of 
course not be found except by studying the meta- 
bolism of man under the influence of smaller and 



PROTEIN METABOLISM 203 

smaller quantities of protein. This is clearly demon- 
strated by the results of the modem low nitrogen 
equilibrium experiments. 

The disciples of Voit can not and do not question 
the accuracy of the results recorded from the low 
protein feeding experiments. But it is now rightly 
enough held that to prove that a person can main- 
tain nitrogen equilibrium for a limited length of time, 
as for a few days, on a very small amount of protein 
does not at all prove that he can permanently do 
so with advantage or even with impunity. The 
correctness of this position must be granted, and it 
is, in fact, the position taken by the more conserva- 
tive experimenters on low nitrogen equilibrium, as 
for example by Siven. But while freely admitting 
this, it must, in my opinon, be insisted that the low 
protein experiments of even such short duration, as 
a few days, have completely destroyed the scien- 
tific basis on which the protein prescriptions of Voit 
and his disciples are supposed to rest. 

LOW PROTEIN EQUILIBRIUM 

As far as we yet know there is no reason for assum- 
ing that a diet capable of maintaining nitrogen equi- 
librium for a week should fail to do so at the end of 
a month or any other time. In fact, investigations of 
the last three or four years clearly indicate that nitro- 
gen equilibrium can be maintained for long as well as 
for short periods on very small quantities of protein. 



204 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

In 1902 Dr. R. O. Neumann, privatdocent in the 
Hygiene Institute at Kiel, published an account of 
metabolism experiments with himself covering a 
period of over two years. The average composition 
of his diet during that time corresponded to 117 
grams fat, 213 grams carbohydrates, and 74.2 grams 
protein per 70 kilos of body weight. Neumann's ex- 
periments covering such a long period would cer- 
tainly seem to constitute definite proof that Voit's 
so-called minimum protein requirement is at least 
half again as large as is really necessary for the per- 
manent maintenance of nitrogen equilibrium, physi- 
cal vigor, and efficiency. 

More striking still are the metabolism records pub- 
^lished last year, by Professor Chittenden. I shall 
not go into details of this work, as Mrs. Richards is 
on the program for a report on it. But I must cite 
the fact that Chittenden maintained a body weight 
of 57 kilos as well as nitrogen equilibrium from July, 

1903, until the publication of his book in the fall of 

1904, on an average protein consumption of less 
than 35 grams a day. 

DR. FOLIN'S STUDIES 

My own studies of protein metabolism in man, 
though pursued in a different way and for a different 
purpose, have a direct bearing on the problem of the 
necessary minimum protein consumption. The 
specific waste products formed from the destruction 



PROTEIN METABOLISM 205 

of protein within the human organism are ehminated 
in soluble form- with the urine. They are therefore 
easily available for detailed chemical investigations, 
and as the result of innumerable studies much exact 
knowledge has been gained concerning the normal 
katabolism products of protein. My investigations 
lie within this field. 

The views that have till recently prevailed con- 
cerning the chemistry of urine, in so far as it relates 
to the problem of protein metabolism, may be con- 
cisely stated as follows: All the nitrogen of the protein 
destroyed in the body is eliminated with the urine, 
and almost 90% of it appears in the form of urea. 
From 95% to 98% of the nitrogen is eliminated as urea, 
kreatinin, ammonia, and uric acid. The absolute 
amount of each of these nitrogenous products depends 
upon the amount of protein katabolized, but changes 
in the amount of protein destroyed affect them all 
equally, thus leaving them always in about the same 
proportion to each other and to the total nitrogen. 
This fact, if correct, is very important, because it 
clearly indicates a certain unity in the chemical pro- 
cesses concerned with the use and destruction of 
protein within the body. It indicates that the pro- 
tein of the food and the protein of the living tissues 
are essentially alike and in the same condition with 
reference to the organism at the time of their final 
destruction. The two rival theories concerning 
this subject accordingly agree in assuming the essen- 



2o6 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

tial unity of the chemical processes involved in pro- 
tein katabolism, and the only point of difference 
between the two is that one, the theory of Voit, 
holds that the protein must be in solution and dead 
before being oxidized and destroyed, while the other, 
that of Pfliiger, assumes that it is only actually liv- 
ing protoplasm that is destroyed. 

It would be useless in this connection to go into 
a detailed discussion of these two theories, because 
I think it can be shown that the fundamental pre- 
mise of both, namely, the supposed constancy in 
the relative distribution of the urinary nitrogenous 
products, is no longer tenable. 

RELATIVE PROPORTION OF NITROGEN WASTE PRODUCTS 

The fact that the relative proportions of the vari- 
ous nitrogenous constituents of normal human urine 
have so long been supposed to be approximately 
constant is in a measure directly the result of 
Voit's teachings concerning the minimum protein 
requirement. The destruction of loo grams pro- 
tein or more within the organism, as demanded by 
the dietary standards, rendered it well nigh impos- 
sible to discover the laws that govern the formation 
and elimination of each product. About a year and 
a half ago I discovered accidentally that the urine 
corresponding to a very low protein katabolism has 
a chemical composition which is very different from 
that of urine derived from the standard diets. This 



PROTEIN METABOLISM 207 

led to numerous attempts to reduce the daily pro- 
tein destruction in normal persons to the lowest pos- 
sible level. 

Nearly all preceding attempts to reduce the pro- 
tein katabolism have also been attempts to main- 
tain at the same time nitrogen equilibrium. In 
mine the question of nitrogen equilibrium, or loss 
of protein, was not considered, and I have as a matter 
of fact used a diet containing almost no protein. I 
have kept several normal persons for a week or more, 
two or three persons for two weeks, and one for 17 
days on a diet consisting exclusively of pure arrow 
root starch and 300 cc. of cream. In this way the 
daily protein katabolism has repeatedly been reduced 
to about 20 grams a day. 

Detailed chemical studies of the urines correspond- 
ing to such greatly reduced protein katabolism have 
shown that the relative proportion which the nitro- 
genous products bear to each other and to the total 
nitrogen does change and very greatly. For ex- 
ample, the kreatinin elimination is entirely inde- 
pendent of the total amount of protein katabolized. 
It is just as great on a diet containing no protein as 
on one containing 118 grams of protein. In the one 
case it represents from 17% to 20% of the total nitro- 
gen, in the other from 3% to 4%. The urea, on the other 
hand, is peculiarly a product of excessive protein 
katabolism. When the urinary nitrogen represents 
a katabolism of 100 grams of protein, 90% of that 



2o8 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

nitrogen is present as urea, while when the protein 
katabolism has been reduced to 20 grams, only from 
50% to 60% of its nitrogen appears in the form of 
urea. 

DIFFERENT KINDS OF PROTEIN METABOLISM 

These facts concerning urea and kreatinin suffice 
to show how entirely erroneous has been the assump- 
tion that the nitrogen of katabolized protein is 
always distributed in the same proportion among 
the different waste products. It may therefore be 
superflous now to go into further details concerning 
the laws that govern the formation and elimination 
of the different products. The fact that these laws 
are widely different for different products, as for 
urea and kreatinin, demonstrates with a fair degree 
of certainty that protein metabolism is not all of 
one kind. 

The true minimum katabolism or protein, as ob- 
tained in my feeding experiments with starch and 
fats, is clearly very different from the katabolism 
of the large quantities of protein demanded by the 
dietary standards. The former converts not over 
60% of the protein nitrogen into urea, and is the 
source of all the kreatinin eliminated with the urine. 
The katabolism of that food protein which is not 
absolutely needed for the maintenance of nitrogen 
equilibrium, on the other hand, yields probably at 
least 95% of its nitrogen in the form of urea and 
yields no kreatinin whatever. The katabolism 



PROTEIN METABOLISM 209 

which yields the kreatinin clearly tends to be con- 
stant and independent of the food protein; it can 
therefore fairly be said to represent the tissue meta- 
bolism. The katabolism which yields chiefly urea 
is the katabolism of the excessive food protein, and 
its amount depends directly upon the amount of 
protein contained in the food. This I have called 
the exogenous metabolism. 

EXOGENOUS METABOLISM 

Since the exogenous metabolism seems to have 
nothing to do with the tissue metabolism, and since 
it increases immediately with every increase of pro- 
tein furnished with the food and in porportion to 
such increase, it represents nothing else than the 
effort of the organism to get rid of nitrogen that it 
does not need and can not use. The remarkable 
ability of the human organism to establish nitrogen 
equilibrium on almost any quantity of protein does 
therefore not mean, as has been believed, that the 
organism uses protein by preference instead of fats 
and carbohydrates. This phenojnenon is merely 
the result of our habitual consumption of more pro- 
tein than can be used in the tissue metabolism. 
Being always supplied with an excess, we have al- 
ways with us the maximum amount of reserve pro- 
tein that we can advantageously carry, and any 
further increase in the supply simply leads to an in- 
creased elimination. 



2IO FOOD AND DIETETICS 

CONCLUSIONS 

Such, in brief, are the conclusions which I have 
drawn from detailed studies of the waste products 
of protein katabolism. 

To recapitulate: We have learned from Voit that 
protein is not needed to supply energy ; and the work 
of more recent investigators has demonstrated that 
nothing like loo grams of protein is needed to 
maintain nitrogen equilibrium in a man of average 
size. Further, from detailed analytic studies, we 
have learned that some waste products, like kreatinin, 
represent tissue metabolism, and others, like urea, the 
metabolism of that food protein which is destroyed 
as rapidly as it is taken in. The two kinds of meta- 
bolism are independent. The tissue metabolism 
is for each individual a constant quantity, irrespec- 
tive of the amount of protein contained in the food. 
Obviously, therefore, there is a constant minimum 
protein requirement to prevent loss of tissue material. 
The amount of protein needed for this purpose is 
very small, probably not over 25 grams a day. It 
does, however, not necessarily follow that 25 grams 
protein should be prescribed instead of 118 grams. 
The prevailing idea that consumption of more than 
the minimum amount of protein is detrimental to 
health may not be true. The minimum may not 
be the optimum. But what has been considered 
the minimum, 118 grams, may be beyond the opti- 
mum, possibly even above the maximum amount 
of protein that any normal person should consume. 



PROTEIN METABOLISM 2ii 

DISCUSSION 

Mrs. Abel — I should like to ask Dr. Folin if he 
would recommend for tuberculosis patients a great 
deal of milk and eggs. 

Dr. Folin — Any opinion I give must simply be 
my own. I should be inclined to think it unneces- 
sary to prescribe any quantity of protein whatever. 
By that I do not mean to say how much should be 
consumed, because in our food products, say bread 
and butter, there is enough to meet all requirements 
as shown by these investigations, but at the same 
time the experience of past generations shows that 
we can at least, without any noticeable disadvan- 
tage, consume considerable quantities of protein. 
For instance, I should not advise stopping all use of 
meat. I should be inclined to take the same atti- 
tude toward protein as toward fats and carbohy- 
drates. We must have enough food to maintain 
the energy that is consumed, and I think the same 
liberty can be taken toward protein as toward the 
other two. We do not quite know just what is 
the effect of compelling the system to eliminate 
large quantities, and so long as we do not know I do 
not believe we can take a very definite standpoint 
on the question. It is generally believed that such 
diseases as gout are more or less directly due to high 
living, but we can not prove it, and moreover it is 
a question whether protein consumption and meat 
eating are at all identical. Such products as uric 



212 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

acid are formed in large quantities by meat eaters, 
but they are not formed when such products as 
milk and eggs are taken; consequently, I should say 
that we do not know. 

In regard to such disease as consumption, I have 
no personal experience, but if the point is merely 
to build them up and give them a large amount of 
reserve material, we can see that it is entirely unneces- 
sary to feed large quantities of milk and eggs, be- 
cause the nutrition of milk and eggs is at once 
eliminated, and presumably the rest of that food is 
stored as fat and carbohydrates, and so I should be 
inclined at least to consider it worth while to try 
whether fat and carbohydrates would not produce 
just as good results. 

Mrs. Abel — There are several here I think who 
have to do with feeding people in hospitals, and one 
lady with tuberculosis patients, and I should like 
very much for my own information to know whether 
these patients take and digest and seem to flourish 
under this high feeding of eggs and milk. I myself 
have to visit a poorhouse where there are loo tuber- 
culosis patients. Eggs are 40 cents a dozen in winter, 
and the state must pay for them. Still the prescrip- 
tion is 3 and 4 eggs a day and a large quantity of 
milk. If it is not necessary, it is of immense im- 
portance to the whole country to know it, for other 
patients need the money which now goes for this 
purpose. 



PROTEIN METABOLISM 213 

Miss Fraser — I am trying to feed consumptive 
patients as economically as possible, to give them 
the things they like and must have and to do it all 
on a certain sum. Our patients are fed in the fol- 
lowing way. They have breakfast at 7.30. We 
expect them to take half an hour for that meal, and 
they may stay as much longer as they like. At 10.30 
they have their lunch of milk and eggs, no limit to 
the quantity of milk and eggs or egg nog. At 12.30 
we have dinner. A number of patients at that 
meal take a raw egg and m.ilk. At 3.30 they are 
called to lunch, milk and eggs. At 5.45 supper, 
milk and eggs again and just as much as they can 
eat besides. At 8.30 milk and eggs again. Some 
of those patients during the night take milk and eggs. 
We give them cereal twice a day, for breakfast and 
supper, cooked eight hours in a double boiler. They 
are very fond of that, but we find that if they know 
there is steak they do not take so much. The same 
at dinner with soups. I find they do not take as 
much, for they think they must save space for roast 
beef. Vegetables they are fond of. I try to give 
them as much as they can eat. They seem to have 
an idea that they must eat plenty of rare beef and 
milk and eggs. I have heard patients" who have 
been cured, come back and say to the others "Now 
eat all the meat and milk and eggs that you can and 
never mind the other things.' ' Farther than that 
I cannot tell. The patients look healthy and no 



214 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

one would have any idea that they were a lot of sick 
people. 

Miss Bevier — Would Dr. Folin say that we can 
not help getting from any food as much protein as 
the system needs and so there is no such thing as 
balanced rations? 

Dr. Folin. — If you eat enough bread and butter 
to give 2500 calories, I believe you would get enough 
protein. Be sparing of the butter if fat is too great. 
It is exceedingly difficult to get any diet that does 
not contain nutrition that is equal to the metabo- 
lism. 

The one point that you would need to consider 
would be fuel value and in regard to that there is 
now perhaps a little difference of opinion. The 
work done by the department of agriculture is prob- 
ably the safest guide at present. 

Dr. Langworthy — Dr. Folin's is the most impor- 
tant contribution to the subject made in a long time. 
It clears up some matters, throws light on others, 
and I think when work has gone on for a time 
longer we shall know a great deal more about this 
subject. I like his attitude in not drawing frenzied 
conclusions from so many and interesting results. 
I never want to forget that whenever we find a race 
living on a small amount of food, or largely on vege- 
table diet, it is not a capable race. The Italian 
peasants who live on com meal and a little fish do 
little work, yet bring them to this country and give 



PROTEIN METABOLISM 215 

them better diet and they do a great deal more and 
better work in a day. The second and third gener- 
ation develops a larger man than his father or grand- 
father. We find that the Japanese eat just about 
the same amount of protein as the standard covers. 

^ ^ ^j :^< :Jc 

Mrs. Richards — One point which every one has 
very carefully left out of this discussion is the food of 
the child. All these experiments in lowering the 
food protein must be practiced on our own and not 
on the children's diet at present. 



SUPPLEMENTAL PROGRAM ARRANGED FOR 
CLASS STUDY ON 

FOOD AND DIETETICS 

MEETING I 

(Study pages i - 29) 
The Food Problem 
Food materials and their Adulteration, by Ellen H. Richards. 

Chapter L ($1.00, postage loc.) 
Cost of Food, by Ellen H. Richards. Pages 1-7. ($1.00, 

postage I2C.) 
Sanitary and Economic Cooking, by Mary Hinman Abel. 

Pages 1-5. (40c., postage loc.) 
Cost of Food 

Cost of Food, by Ellen H. Richards. Chapters XI-XIV. 
Bulletin No. 129 (Office of the Experiment Station.s), Dietary 

Studies in Boston, Springfield, Philadelphia, and Chicago. 

Price IOC. (coin), of the. Supt. of Documents, Washington, 

D. C. 
Sanitary and Economic Cooking — Some Cheap Dishes. 

Pages 25-33. 
Ru,mford Kitchen Leaflets — Good food for little Money, 

by Ellen H. Richards. ($1.00, postage loc.) 
Principles of Nutrition and the Nutritive Value of Food. 

Farmers' Bulletin No. 142. (Free of Dept. of Agriculture, 

Washington, D. C.) 
Topic: Food in Relation to National Character. 



MEETING II 

(Study pages 30-49.) 
Food and the Body 

Principles of Nutrition and Nutritive Value of Food. Farm- 
ers ' Bulletin No. 142. 
Food and Dietetics, by Hutchison. Chapter I. ($3,00, 
postage 30c.) 

217 



2i8 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

Food Principles 

Make experiments on proteids described on pages 41 and 42. 

Clean and grate a small potato under slowly running water, 
pour through muslin to collect fibers, let starch settle. 

Exhibit: Make up an exhibit showing quantities of food hav- 
ing the same fuel and energy value — say 800 calories, 
which is a little over one-third the daily requirement for 
a woman at moderate work according to dietary standards. 
Show bread, meat, butter, milk, eggs, sugar, potatoes, 
apples, etc., and label each food with the weight in ounces 
and cost. 

Calculation. Bread furnishes about 1650 calories per pound; 
to furnish 800 calories would require 800 divided by 1650; 
which multiplied by 16, equals 7.75 oz. — about half a 
loaf. Milk furnishes 325 calories per pound. 800 divided 
by 325 and multiplied by 16 equals about 40 oz., or a 
quart and half a pint, and so on. 

Exhibit: Make an exhibit of foods containing 1.126 oz., 
of proteid, — one-third the daily ration for a woman — 
labeling each with the weight and cost. 



MEETING III 

(Study pages 50-61) 
Dietary Standards 

Food and Dietetics, by Hutchison. Chapters II and III. 

($3.00, postage 26c.) 
Dietary Computer, by Ellen H. Richards. ($1.50, postage 

I2C.) 

Bulletin No. 28, American Food Materials. Price 5 cents 
(coin), of the Supt. of Documents, Washington, D. C. 

Physiological Economy in Nutrition, by Chittenden. In- 
troduction, Chapters IV, V, and Conclusion. ($3.00, 
postage 20c.) 

Article in Century Magazine, February, 1905, by Chittenden. 



PROGRAM 219 

Protein Metabolism in Relation to Dietary Standards, by 
Folin. See Supplement, pages 196-215. See " Notes on the 

Questions," piages 191-195. 

Send to the Battle Creek Sanitarium, Battle Creek, Mich., 
for some of their menus giving fuel value of food served. 

See articles in Good Housekeeping, — August, 1906, '.' Fletch- 
erism as Household Economy," and October, 1906, " Sense 
and Science in Dietetics," by Dr. Stedman. 

Exhibit: Make up exhibits showing a standard day 's 
ration for a woman with light exercise — 80 grams (about 
3 oz.) of proteid — with sufficient fats and carbohydrates 
to bring the total fuel value up to 2300 calories. See 
Bulletin No. 28, American Food Materials, for composi- 
tion of any foods not given in the lesson books. 

(Select answers to Test Questions on Part I and send them 
to the School and report on exhibits and supplemental 
work.) 



MEETING IV 

(Study pages 63-116) 
Special Foods 

Food and Dietetics, by Hutchison, and other standard 

books. 
Food Products of the World, by Green. ($1.50, postage 

14c.) 

Meat and Fish 

Meats, Composition and Cooking. Farmers' Bulletin No. 34. 

Fish as Food. Farmers' Bulletin No. 85. 

Poultry as Food. Farmers' Bulletin No. 182. 

Meat on the Farm, Butchering, Keeping, Curing. Farmers' 

Bulletin No. 183. 
Roasting of Beef, Circular 71, University of Illinois. Isabel 

Bevier. (Postage 2c.) 



220 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

Eggs, Milk, and Milk Products 

Eggs and their use as Food. Farmers' Bulletin No. 128. 

Milk as Food. Farmers' Bulletin No. 74. 

Facts about Milk. Farmers' Bulletin No. 42. 

Food Value of Cheese, in Farmers' Bulletin No. 244. 

Milk Supply of Two Hundred Cities and Towns. Bulletin 

No. 46. Price 10 cents (coin), of the Supt. of Documents, 

Washington, D. C. 
Milk and its Products, by Wing. ($1.00, postage loc.) 

Cereals and Cereal Products 

Bread and the Principles of Bread Making. Farmers' Bul- 
letin No. 112. 

Wheat, Flour, and Bread. Extract No. 324. 

Macaroni Wheat. Extract No. 326. 

Studies in Bread and Bread Making. Bulletin No. loi. 
Price 5 cents (coin), of Supt. of Documents, Washington, 
D. C. 

Cereal Breakfast Foods. Farmers' Bulletin No. 249. 

Cereal Breakfast Foods. Bulletin No. 84 and 118, Maine 
Agricultural Experiment Station, Orono, Maine. 

Pop Corn, in Farmers' Bulletin No. 202. 

Corn Plants, by Sargent. (75c., postage oc.) 

Story of Grain of Wheat, by Edgar. ($1 . 00, postage loc.) 

Sugar 

Sugar as Food. Farmers' Bulletin No. 93. 

Maple Syrup and Sugar, in Farmers' Bulletin No 124. 

(Select answers to Test Questions on Part II and report on 
supplemental work.) 



MEETING V 

(Study pages 119-157) 
Vegetables, Fruits, and Nuts 

Beans, Peas, and other Legumes as Food. Farmers' Bul- 
letin No. 121. 



PROGRAM 221 

Sweet Potatoes. Farmers' Bulletin No. 127. 

Peanuts: Culture and Uses. Farmers' Bulletin No. 25. 

Value of Potatoes as Food. Extract from Year Book, 1900. 

Losses in the Cooking of Vegetables. Farmers' Bulletin 
No. 73. 

Mushrooms as Food, in Farmers' BuHetin No. 79. 

Banana Flour; Canned Tomatoes, in Farmers' Bulletin 
No. 119 

Chestnuts, in Farmers' Bulletin No. 114. 

CofTee Substitutes, in Farmers' Bulletin No. 122. 

Food Value of Beans, in Farmers' Bulletin No. 169. 

Nuts as Food. Bulletin No. 54, Maine Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station, Orono, Maine. 

Coffee Substitutes. Bulletin No. 65, Maine Agricultural 
Experiment Station, Orono, Me. 

Nutrition Investigations among Fruitarians and Chinese, 
Bulletin No. 107. Price 5 cents (coin,) of the Supt. of 
Documents, Washington, D. C. 

Further Investigations among Fruitarians, Bulletin No. 132. 
Price 5 cents (coin), of the Supt. of Documents, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 

Food and Dietetics, by Hutchison. Chapters XIV and 
XVIII. 

Cocoa and Chocolate. Walter Baker Co., Dorchester, Mass. 
(Postage 6c.) 

MEETING VI 

(Study pages 158 - 180) 

Adulteration of Food 

See Articles on "Safe Food" in the Delineator, January to 

July, 1906, by Mary Hinman Abel. 
Food Materials and their Adulterations, by Ellen H. 

Richards. ($1. 00, postage loc.) 
Standards of Purity for Food Products. Circular No. 17. 



222 FOOD AND DIETETICS 

Use and Abuse of Food Preservatives. Extract No. 221. 

Some forms of Food Adulteration and Simple Methods for 
their Detection. Bulletin No. 800, Bureau of Chemistry. 
Price 10 cents (coin), of the Supt. of Documents, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 

Make some of the tests described, in the text and above 
bulletins. 

Officials Charged with Enforcement of Food Laws. Circular 
No. 16. 

The food laws of your own state. Write to the officer given in 
Circular No. 16 for them and send for the part of bulletin 
of Bureau of Chemistry containing them. 

Topics: Laws, if any, in your own town. Are they en- 

forced ? 

The Local Milk Supply, — investigate. 
Condition of the Local Slaughter Houses. 

Special Diet 

Food and Dietetics, by Hutchison. Diet in Disease, Chap- 
ter xxvn. 

Diet in Obesity and Fattening Diet. Chapter XXVIIL 
Food as a Factor in Student Life, by Richards and Talbot. 

(25c., postage 2C.) 
Diet in Relation to Age and Activity, by Thompson. 

($1.00, postage 8c.) 
A, B and Z of our own Nutrition, by Fletcher. ($1.00, 

postage IOC.) 
Vegetarianism, by Kellogg. 
(Select answers to Test Questions on Part III and report on 

supplemental work.) 



INDEX 



Adulteration of butter, 93 

of coffee, 147 

of food, 158 

of milk, 91 

of tea, 142 
Albumin, 68 
Albuminoids, 43 
Animal food, 63 
Apple, composition of, 131 
Atwater's experiments, 52 

Bacon, digestibility of, 69 
Bacteria in butter, 92 

in cheese, 96 

in milk, 89 
Balanced ration, 56, 194, 214 
Beef, 70 

digestibility of, 70 

juice, 72 
Bibliography, 181 
Bomb calorimeter, 35 
Borax experiment, 165 
Boric acid, 91 
Bread, 106 

corn, 108 

graham, 1 1 1 

inaking, no 

nutritive value of, 112 

rye, 108 

white, 112 

whole wheat, in 

yeast, 109 
Breakfast foods, 103 
Broth, nutritious, 72 
Butter, 92 

adulteration of, 93 

effect of cooking, 93 

rancid, 93 



Butter, renovated, 93 

Butterine, 94 

Buttermilk, 86 

Cabbage, composition of, 125 

Caffeine, 155 

Calculations of dietaries, 56, 

191 
Caloric, 34 
Calorimeter, bomb, 35 

respiration, 32, 52 
Carbohydrates, 64 

classification of, 45 

composition of, 44 

in nuts, 136 

in vegetables, 120 
Carrots, composition of, 124 
Casein, 41, 87 
Cellulose, 47 

effect of cooking on, 121 

in vegetables, 120 
Cereal coffee, 156 
Cereals, 98 

composition of, 99 

cooking of, 105 

digestibility of, 104 
Chart, composition of foods, 

.28,37 

division of income, 8 

heat and energy, 36 

of economy of foods 29, 84 
Cheese, 95 

digestibility of, 96 

effects of cooking on, 96 
Children, food for, 174 
Children's parties, 175 
Chittenden's experiments, 54 
Chocolate, 153 
Clams, 75 • 



223 



224 



INDEX 



Coal tar dyes, 164 
Cocoa, 148 

digestibility of, i5g 

food value of, 154 

nibs, 152 

physiological effects of , 155 

shells, 152 
Coffee, 143 

adulterants, 147 

.cereals, 156 

composition of, 144 

physiological effects of, 155 

tests, 147 
Collagen, 43 
Coloring matters, 163 
Composition of apple, 131 

of carbohydrates, 44 

of cereals, 99 

of coffee, 144 

of eggs,. 77 

of fats, 48 

of fish, 74 

of food, 28, 30 

of meat, 67 

of milk, 81,87 

of nuts, 136 

of potato, 126 

or proteids, 42 

of tea, 141 

of the body, 31 

of vegetables, 120 
Condensed milk, 90 
Cookery, economical, 13 
Cooking, cost of, 10 

effect on meat, 70 
Cost of cooking, 10 

of eggs, 80 

of fish, 73 

of food, 7,25 

of labor, 1 1 

of meat, 71 
Cucumber, composition of , 1 28 

Dextrin, 47 



Diet, 173 

for children, 174 

for old age, 179 

students', 178 

to reduce fat, 179 
Dietaries, 50, 52 

calculations of, 56, 191 

estimating, 59, 173 

experimental, 52 

standard, 50, 52, 54, 194, 
197, 214 • 

Dietaries, statistical, 53 

use of, 58 
Digestibility, 36, 65 

of cereals, 104 

of cheese, 96 

of eggs, 79 

of fruits, 133 

of meat, 69 

of milk, 85 

of nuts, 137 

of vegetables, 65, 127 
Dyes in food, 164 

Eating between meals, 177 

manner of, 175 
Economy, food, 26, 29 

in cookery, 13 
Eggs, 77 

composition of, 77 

cost of, 80 

digestibility of, 79 
Energy, 33" 

kinetic, 34 

potential, T^Ti 

source of, 2)Z 

unit of, 34 
Engel's laws, 7 
Extractives, 43, 71 
Extracts of meat, 72 

Factors in dietarv calculations, 
61 

Fats, 48 



INDEX 



225 



Pats, in child's diet, 176 

in milk, 88 
Fibrin, 67 
Fish, 72 

cooking of, 76 

cost of, 73 

digestibility of, 72 

dried, 76 

shell, 74 

smoked, 76 
Flour, 10 1 

bolting, 10 1 

scalpings of, 102 

standard, 103 

testing of, 102 
Folin's experiments, 55 

studies, 204 
Food, 30 

adulteration of, 158 . 

amount required, 50 

animal, 63 

building, 31 

classification of, 49 

composition of, 30 

cost of, 7, 64 

digestibility of, 36, 38 

economy, 10 

energy in, 32 

for children, 174 

for different ages, 50 

fuel value, 32 

functions of, 30 

nutrients of, 49 

preservatives, 161 

principles, 41, 49 

vegetable, 63 

waste of, 12 
Formaldehyde, 91 
Fruits, 130 

canned, 131 

digestibility of, 133 

dried, 131 

unripe, 133 
Fuel foods, 39 



Gelatine, 43 

test, 172 
Gelatinoids, 43 
Glucose, 114, 160 
Gluten, 41, 107 
Glycogen, 47 
Government bulletins, 182 . 

Heat, 32 

in body, 32 

mechanical equivalent of, 35 

unit of, 34 
Hydration of starch, 122 

Income chart, 8 

Kinetic energy, 34 
Koumiss, 86 

Labelling, correct, 162 
Labor, cost of, 1 1 
Lact-albumin, 87 
Lactic acid, 89 
Lactose, 87 
Leavening agents, 108 
Legumin, 42 . • 

Liebig's theory, 196 
Lobsters, 75 

Meat, 66 

cost of, 71 

digestibility of, 69 

effect of cooking, 70 

extracts of, 72 

fat of, 68 

flavor of, 68 

losses in boiling, 70 

proteids of, 67 
Mechanical equivalent of heat, 

35 
Menus, 24 
Metabolism, 196 
exogenous, 209 
protein, 196 



226 



INDEX 



Milk, 80 

adulteration of, 91 

boiled, 86 

composition of, 81, 87 

condensed, 90 

cost of, 82 

digestibility of, 85 

fats, 88 

mineral matter in, 88 

powder, 91 

preservatives, 91 

products, 92 

pure, 90 

sour, 89 

sugar, 87 
Mineral matter, 48 
Molasses, 116 
Mushrooms, 127 
Mutton, digestibility of, 70 
Myosin, 42, 67 

Nutrient ratio, 48, 51, 81 
Nutrients of food, 49 
Nuts, 136 

Oleomargarine, 94 
Omnivorous tastes, 176 
Ossein, 43 
Oysters, 75 

Pectin, 48, 130 

Pectose, 48 

Pork, digestibility of, 69 

Potato, composition of, 126 

Potential energy, 33 

Preservatives, 165 

milk, 91 
Program for supplemental 

study, 216 
Proteids, 41 

composition of, 42 

equilibrium, 203 

in nuts, 136 

minimum, 200 



Proteids, nomenclature of, 43 
of meat, 67 

requirements in the body. 55 
requirements for children, 

174, 215 
source of, 66 
Protein, 43 

metabolism in relation to 
dietary standards, 196, 

215 
Pure food, 158 

food bulletins, 186 

Ration, balanced, 56, 194, 214 
Renovated butter, 93 
Respiration calorimeter, 32 

Salts, 48 

of vegetables, 126 
Serving, dainty, 26 
Shell-fish, 74 
Skimmed milk, 86 
Soup meat, nutritive value of, 

71 

Soups, 71 

nutritive value of, 7 1 
Sour milk, use of, 89 
Special diet, 173 

food stuffs, 63 
Standard dietaries, 52, 54, 194, 

197, 214 
Starch, 45 

com, 45 

hydration of, 122 

in fruits, 130 

structure of, 46 
Starchy vegetables, 1 24 
Students' diet, 178 
Sugar, 113 

beet, 114 

cane, 115 ' 

digestibility of, 114 

effect on diet, 116 

granulated, 115 



INDEX 



227 



Sugar, in vegetables, 123 
maple, 115 
powdered, 115 
test of, 115 
value as food, 113 

Table of comparative diges- 
tibility, 39 

of comparative food value 
of milk, 82 
Table of composition of cere- 
als, 99 

of cocoa, 153 

of cofifee, 146 

of common foods, 57 

of dried fruits, 135 

of fish, 74 

of fruits, 134 

of m.eats, 5 7 

of nuts, 137 

of oysters, 75 

of soup, 20 

of starches, 22 

of sugars, 22 

of tea, 146 

of vegetables, 23, 129 
Table of cost of food, 17, 19, 

27. 77 

of digestibility, 38 

of nutritive value, 15 
Tannic acid, 156 
Tea, 138 

adulteration of, 142 

composition of, 141 

names of, 140 



Tea, physiological effects, 155 

tests, 142 

varieties of, 138 
Tests for aniline colors, 171 

for butter, 168 

home, 168 
Theobromine, 153 
Turnip, composition of, 124 

Veal, 70 

Vegetable dyes, 164 

foods, 63 
Vegetables, 119 

cellulose of, 1 20 

classification of, 119 

composition of, 1 20 

digestibility of, 127 

proteids of, 124 

salts of, 126 

starchy, 124 

sugar in, 123 
Vegetarian diet, 66 
Voit's dietary standards, 197 

Waste of food, 12 
Water, 48 

in meat, 69 
Wheat, 99 

varieties of, 99 

whole, 103 

winter, 10 1 
Work, external, 7^2> 

internal, 2>2> 

Yeast, kinds of, 109 



i.fB^'Q ^y^^ 



